Elon Musk Wants Back Into OpenAI, Bids $97.4 billion to Takeover

After years of clashing with OpenAI, Elon Musk is making a bold move to reclaim control, offering $97.4 billion to bring the company back under his influence.

Musk’s legal team, led by attorney Marc Toberoff, submitted the formal bid to OpenAI’s board, with Musk stating his intention to “restore” the company’s original mission of open-source AI development and public safety.

A co-founder of OpenAI in 2015, Musk departed three years later, criticising the company’s shift toward a for-profit model.

His offer aims to steer the organisation back to its non-profit roots, positioning it once again as a “safety-focused force for good.”

Elon said through Toberoff:

“It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. We will make sure that happens.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wasted no time responding.

Using Musk’s own X platform, Altman countered with a $9.74 billion bid to acquire Twitter, escalating the high-profile rivalry between the two tech leaders.

Musk has long accused Altman of steering OpenAI away from its founding principles, criticising its transition to a capped-profit structure in 2019 and filing an antitrust lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in December.

OpenAI’s current trajectory reflects a commercial focus, with a valuation target of $300 billion and projected revenues of $11.6 billion this year—developments Musk argues compromise its ethical foundations.

Meanwhile, Altman is charting his own course for OpenAI’s future.

In a recent blog post, he introduced the concept of a “compute budget,” designed to democratise AI access globally and prevent monopolisation by powerful corporations or nations.

However, he acknowledged the risks, warning that unchecked AI development could exacerbate global inequality.

He wrote:

“The balance of power between capital and labor could easily get messed up.”

Mainstream Adoption on OpenAI’s Agenda

Musk’s takeover bid coincides with OpenAI’s bold foray into mainstream marketing.

The company invested $14 million in a 60-second Super Bowl ad, which aired during the first half of the game last weekend.

Spearheaded by Chief Marketing Officer Kate Rouch, the ad aimed to introduce OpenAI’s technology to the broader public, positioning AI as a natural progression in humanity’s technological evolution.

The commercial featured pointillism-inspired animation, tracing the arc of innovation from early discoveries like fire and the wheel to modern achievements such as space exploration and DNA sequencing.

It concluded by highlighting practical applications of AI tools like ChatGPT, showcasing their use in language tutoring and business planning.

Rouch said:

“We want the message to feel relevant to the audience that is watching the Super Bowl, which includes tens of millions of people who have no familiarity with AI.”

Interestingly, despite OpenAI’s reliance on its AI systems for research and development, the Super Bowl ad was crafted entirely by human artists.

OpenAI’s text-to-video tool, Sora, was utilised only in the initial brainstorming phase to explore concepts, but the final animation deliberately avoided AI-generated visuals.

Rouch described the ad as “a celebration of human creativity,” emphasizing a human touch to resonate with mainstream audiences and subtly distancing the company’s public image from over-reliance on its own technology.

Altman and Musk Trying to Protect Their Visions or Jeopardise Their Companies?

The rationale behind Altman’s valuation of X remains unclear, but his swift rejection of Musk’s $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI speaks volumes.

Interestingly, Musk’s offer pales in comparison to OpenAI’s projected $340 billion valuation.

Altman’s $9.74 billion counteroffer for Twitter raises questions: is it a playful jab at Twitter’s perceived lower value, or simply a humourous twist in their ongoing rivalry?

As the board deliberates Musk’s proposal, its outcome could mark his largest acquisition since purchasing Twitter for $44 billion.

The bid has reignited discussions on X, shifting the spotlight back to AI innovation.

Amidst this corporate tug-of-war, one question lingers: are Musk and Altman defending their respective visions, or recklessly wagering the futures of their companies?