Elon Musk’s bid to acquire OpenAI has triggered a legal battle, with the billionaire’s offer for the AI startup’s assets contradicting his own lawsuit that such an action would not be in private interests. In a letter submitted to a federal court on Wednesday, OpenAI noted this apparent contradiction, noting the challenges posed by Musk’s offer.
On Monday, Musk-led investors made a staggering offer of $97.4 billion (approximately ₹8,45,924 crore) to acquire OpenAI assets, which are currently in the shape of a nonprofit. The action is the latest in the long-standing rivalry between Musk and the AI group, particularly after he sued OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others in August, attempting to block the shift of OpenAI as a for-profit firm.
OpenAI pointed out in its legal filing Musk’s conflicting positions, referring to his bid as an attempt to break up a rival. Musk’s legal positions are that OpenAI assets must remain under a charitable trust and cannot be sold for personal benefit. This is directly contrary to his attempted takeover, which aims to transfer all OpenAI assets to him and his private investors. Musk officials had no comment on the matter when questioned.
Musk and Altman founded OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit organization, though Musk departed prior to the meteoric success of ChatGPT in late 2022. In 2023, he launched his own competing AI initiative, xAI, further clouding the waters of artificial intelligence development.
