OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has firmly rejected a $97.4 billion takeover bid from Elon Musk, dismissing the offer as an attempt to "slow down a competitor" rather than a genuine acquisition effort.
Speaking at the AI Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday, Altman told CNBC that he does not take Musk's unsolicited bid "particularly seriously," adding, "I think it's to slow down a competitor and catch up with his thing, but I don't really know ... to the degree anybody does."
The bid, submitted Monday by Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff, seeks control of the nonprofit entity that oversees OpenAI, the artificial intelligence firm behind ChatGPT. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 before parting ways in 2018, has publicly criticized the company for straying from its original mission and aligning too closely with corporate interests, particularly Microsoft.
Musk's attorney, in a statement to The Wall Street Journal, said, "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was."
Altman, however, dismissed the notion that OpenAI would entertain such an offer, telling Bloomberg, "Look, OpenAI is not for sale. Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time. This is this week's episode."
Altman also suggested that Musk's actions stem from personal motives rather than strategic business planning. "I think he is probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor. He's working hard to raise a lot of money for [his startup] xAI, and they are trying to compete with us from a technological perspective," Altman said. "I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there has been a lot of tactics-you know, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, and now this."
The back-and-forth between Altman and Musk has played out publicly, including on Musk's social media platform, X. On Monday, Altman responded to Musk's bid with a sarcastic post: "No thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk fired back, calling Altman a "swindler" and later posting, "Never a dull moment on X."
Musk's interest in acquiring OpenAI comes as he continues expanding his AI ambitions through his own company, xAI, which has developed the chatbot Grok. xAI is positioning itself as a direct rival to OpenAI and is seeking major investments to challenge the industry's top players.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is involved in another high-profile initiative: the Stargate project, a $500 billion AI infrastructure plan announced by President Donald Trump last month. The initiative, which includes SoftBank, Oracle, and OpenAI, aims to build large-scale computing centers to support AI model development.
Musk has publicly questioned OpenAI's ability to finance its commitments under Stargate. "They don't actually have the money," Musk posted on X last month, casting doubt on the consortium's financial readiness.
Altman, in response, took a swipe at Musk's history of ambitious financial claims. "I'm not the one who tweeted funding secured," Altman quipped in Paris, referencing Musk's infamous 2018 tweet about taking Tesla private, which led to an SEC investigation and a $40 million settlement.
Beyond the financial and legal disputes, tensions between Altman and Musk have been fueled by their diverging visions for AI's future. While OpenAI has pursued partnerships with major tech companies like Microsoft, Musk has positioned xAI as an alternative that promotes transparency and open-source development.
Musk's legal battle with OpenAI further complicates the dynamic. The billionaire sued the company earlier this year, claiming it had violated its original mission to develop AI for the public good rather than for profit. OpenAI has countered that Musk was fully aware of its business evolution and had once sought to take control himself.
Altman, for his part, appears focused on moving past the distractions. "I try to just wake up and think about how we are going to make our technology better," he said.
