OpenAI, the maker of chatbot ChatGPT, the company that in many ways is at the centre of the AI revolution has rejected a mammoth USD 97.4 billion takeover offer from an Elon Musk-led consortium.
OpenAI Rejects Elon Musk
Elon Musk has been at loggerheads with Sam Altman, and by extension OpenAI, a company backed by Satya Nadella-led Microsoft.
Musk has had an open spat with Stanford alumni (dropped out) over the multiple issues with the company's functioning. Musk has previously approached US courts in an attempt to block OpenAI from becoming a for-profit company, against its current status as a not-for-profit company.
Musk Vs Altman
In addition, Musk has also demanded OpenAI go open source, a demand that has not been heeded by Sam Altman.
When it comes to this acquisition deal, OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor, announcing the decision of the company board, said the following on Friday: “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition”
Musk himself owns his AI venture, xAI, in addition, he also has a chatbot Grok under his command.
Previously, when the news of the mammoth takeover emerged, Sam Altman responded with a tongue-in-cheek response, saying, "No thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want"
no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 10, 2025
A furious Musk immediately hit back, in the replies or responses to the post by the OpenAI boss. Musk called Altman a 'Swindler' in her post.
Swindler
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 10, 2025
Elon Musk had infamously bought X, then Twitter for a sum of USD 44 billion in 2022.
This is not the first time, Musk has tried to besmirch his rival, with a personal attack, resorting to puerile name-calling, including 'Scam Altman'.
Musk has often accused Altman of being a liar.
When it comes to OpenAI, the company appears to have managed to wither another storm, that has come its way, after volatility experienced during the mayhem caused by DeepSeek, a Chinese bot, that showed immense capabilities, equivalent to OpenAI's ChatGPT.