Mon, 10 Feb 2025

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 Musk-led group makes $97.4bn bid for ChatGPT maker OpenAI

The billionaire's attorney, Marc Toberoff, confirmed he submitted the bid for "all assets" of the company on Monday.
Elon Musk's investment consortium offered $97.4bn to acquire OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, with an offer that includes all of the company's assets. However, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman rejected the bid in a tweet on Musk's social media platform X, saying "no thank you" and implying that OpenAI is interested in acquiring Twitter instead. The move comes amid a long-standing dispute between Musk and Altman over OpenAI's future as a for-profit entity. OpenAI was founded by both men in 2015 as a non-profit but has since restructured to become a for-profit company, sparking criticism from Musk that it has abandoned its original mission of developing AI for humanity. The bid is backed by xAI and several private equity firms, including Baron Capital Group and Valor Management. In response, OpenAI values itself at $300bn, higher than the consortium's offer, but Musk's attorney says they are prepared to match or exceed any potential higher bid. The move comes as OpenAI also teams up with Oracle, a Japanese investment firm, and an Emirati sovereign wealth fund to build $500bn of AI infrastructure in the US through a new company called The Stargate Project. Meanwhile, concerns have been raised about the impact of artificial intelligence on literature, with Scotland's national poet expressing regret over the challenges posed by computer-generated work. The industry is also set to face scrutiny at an upcoming summit, where global politicians and AI bosses will debate the disruptive technology.
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