The artificial intelligence company that owns ChatGPT, OpenAI, has formally rejected the $97.4 billion (around ¤92.8 billion) purchase offer made by a group of investors led by billionaire Elon Musk. The offer sparked a war of words between Musk and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.
"OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk's latest attempt to disrupt its competition. Any potential reorganization of OpenAI will strengthen our non-profit organization and its mission to ensure that artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity," stated OpenAI's president, Bret Taylor, as reported by Europa Press.
Musk was involved in the early stages of OpenAI ten years ago but left the company precisely because he advocated for it to remain a non-profit entity. Years later, he launched a competing artificial intelligence startup, gathered a group of wealthy allies to make a bid for the organization's assets. His lawyer, Marc Toberoff, presented the offer to OpenAI's board of directors.
The offer was rejected by CEO Sam Altman, who in a brief statement on the social network X wrote: "No, thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want."
Since Musk's departure from OpenAI, his attacks have ranged from personal, with Altman as a favorite target, to his alliances with Microsoft and practically any action taken by the company. Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman last year, alleging that the company's founders had deviated from the original mission of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity.
Currently, OpenAI remains a non-profit organization but is in the process of transitioning to a lucrative business model to, according to the company, secure the necessary capital to develop better artificial intelligence models.