Sam Altman has expressed he feels bad for “insecure” Elon Musk after a consortium of investors including Musk made a $97.4 billion unsolicited offer to acquire OpenAI’s assets. Altman publicly rejected the bid on Musk-owned social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), before OpenAI had formally reviewed it, igniting another public feud between the Tesla boss […]
Sam Altman has expressed he feels bad for “insecure” Elon Musk after a consortium of investors including Musk made a $97.4 billion unsolicited offer to acquire OpenAI’s assets.
Altman publicly rejected the bid on Musk-owned social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), before OpenAI had formally reviewed it, igniting another public feud between the Tesla boss and OpenAI CEO.
What are the key details of Elon Musk’s bid for OpenAI?
Musk led the bid alongside Vy Capital, his AI company xAI, and Hollywood power broker Ari Emanuel, as The Wall Street Journal reported.
The offer aims to take control of the nonprofit entity that oversees OpenAI, which is in the process of transitioning into a for-profit company.
Shortly after news of the bid broke, Altman dismissed the offer in a post on X, stating: “No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
Musk responded by calling Altman a “swindler.”
Later, in an interview with Bloomberg, Altman said: “OpenAI is not for sale. Elon has tried all sorts of things for a long time, this is just this week’s episode.”
Musk was among OpenAI’s original backers in 2015 but left the company in 2018 after a reported power struggle.
He has since launched xAI to compete directly with OpenAI in the booming artificial intelligence space.
“He is obviously a competitor. He’s working hard to raise a lot of money for xAI,” Altman said, “But there have been many tactics, including lawsuits and all other sorts of crazy stuff, and now this.”
“I wish he would just compete by building a better product,” he added, before musing: “Probably his whole life is from a place of insecurity, I feel for the guy. I don’t think he’s a happy person.”
Why is Elon Musk suing OpenAI?
Musk has previously expressed concerns regarding OpenAI’s direction, suing the company last year over its partnership with Microsoft and accusing it of becoming a “closed-source de facto subsidiary” of the tech giant.
Musk’s legal team argues that OpenAI’s shift to a profit-driven model contradicts its original mission.
“It is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time,” said Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, in a statement to Forbes.
This latest bid by Musk to take control could complicate OpenAI’s ongoing restructuring efforts, as the nonprofit entity still holds a stake in its for-profit counterpart.
The bid’s timing is particularly significant, as OpenAI is in the process of securing a $40bn funding round led by SoftBank, which would value the company at approximately $300bn — one of the highest valuations for any private AI firm.
How does this bid impact the AI industry?
This development comes during a period of increased competition in the AI sector, with major tech firms significantly boosting their AI investments.
With Musk and Altman continuing to clash over OpenAI’s mission, this bid underscores broader tensions in the AI industry over profit motives, open-source development, and control of the technology’s future.
“Concerns over AI ownership aren’t just theoretical, we’re already seeing the consequences play out,” says Graeme Stewart, head of public sector at Check Point Software. “AI is being weaponised in cyber-warfare, and the power to control one of the world’s most advanced systems has massive security implications.”
He explains, “This is no different from the long-running debate over newspaper ownership and editorial stance, but the influence is far less visible with AI. Users may not realise how ownership shapes the information they receive, and many don’t think about it because they simply want the tool to work.”
“AI is moving so fast that it’s becoming part of daily life before people have the chance to question its influence. If AI is the new printing press, we need to ask — who is holding the pen?”
“This isn’t just about business deals or boardroom decisions. It’s about who gets to control the narratives that shape public understanding. If AI is to be a trusted tool, there must be transparency over its biases, and regulators need to act before control over information is concentrated in too few hands.”
Read more: Alphabet’s $75 billion AI expansion: cloud revenue slows, investors react
Story updated: 11th Feb, 09:50am PST (17:50pm GMT)
