Real or ‘ridiculous’? Confusion over Elon Musk’s bid for OpenAI

STORY: There was deepening confusion Tuesday over the status of Elon Musk’s bid to acquire OpenAI.

A day earlier, the Tesla-boss-turned-Trump-ally said he had offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls the ChatGPT maker.

Speaking at an AI summit in Paris, OpenAI boss Sam Altman said the whole thing was nonsense:

JOURNALIST: “Can you react to Elon Musk’s offer?

ALTMAN: “I have nothing to say. I mean, it’s ridiculous.”

JOURNALIST: “How so?”

ALTMAN: “The company is not for sale. The company is not for sale. It’s another one of his tactics to try to mess with us, but no big deal.”

JOURNALIST: “What about the amount he offered?”

ALTMAN: “I mean, it doesn’t matter.”

Now OpenAI’s board says it has not received any formal bid from Musk.

That’s according to a Reuters source.

However, a lawyer for Musk insists the bid was sent to OpenAI’s outside counsel by email.

He said he couldn’t control whether that was forwarded to the board.

Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit, but he later left amid a disagreement over the direction and funding of the project.

OpenAI is now seeking to transition to a for-profit entity, which it says is necessary to secure the capital needed to build the best AI models.

In November, Musk asked a judge for an injunction to stop the change, saying the ChatGPT firm should stick to its original mission.

He’s proposed that it could merge with his own competing startup – xAI.