OpenAI\u2019s board has not yet received a formal bid from an Elon Musk-led consortium, although a lawyer for the billionaire said the offer had been sent to OpenAI\u2019s outside counsel. A day after Musk publicized a bid to offer $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls ChatGPT maker OpenAI, the two sides were still at odds over what exactly happened to the formal bid. OpenAI\u2019s board of directors has not yet received a formal bid from Musk\u2019s group, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, adding to the confusion over the unsolicited attempt to take control of the world\u2019s most prominent AI company. Musk\u2019s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, told Reuters that he sent the offer by email on Monday to OpenAI\u2019s outside counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The law firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The bid \u2013 attached to an email \u2013 was in the form of a \u201cdetailed four-page Letter of Intent\u201d to purchase OpenAI\u2019s assets, signed by Musk and other investors and addressed to the board, Toberoff said. \u201cWhether Sam Altman chose to provide or withhold this from OpenAI\u2019s other Board members is outside of our control,\u201d he said, referring to OpenAI\u2019s CEO. The nonprofit that controls OpenAI is not for sale, Altman told Reuters on Tuesday when asked about Musk\u2019s offer to buy it. The offer by the Musk-led consortium came amid the billionaire\u2019s fight to block the artificial intelligence startup from transitioning to a for-profit firm. \u201cI have nothing to say. I mean, it\u2019s ridiculous,\u201d Altman said on the sidelines of an AI summit in Paris when asked about the offer. \u201cThe company is not for sale. It\u2019s another one of his tactics to try to mess with us,\u201d Altman said, referring to Musk. In an internal message to OpenAI employees on Monday, Altman said the board, though it had not officially reviewed the offer, planned to reject it based on the interest of OpenAI\u2019s mission. Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit, but left before the company took off due to a disagreement over the company\u2019s direction and funding sources with Altman and other co-founders. In 2023, he launched the competing AI startup, xAI. Musk, the CEO of Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab and owner of technology company X, is a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump. He leads the Department of Government Efficiency, a new arm of the White House tasked with radically shrinking the federal bureaucracy. OpenAI, in the process of raising $40 billion, is also seeking to transition into a for-profit from a nonprofit entity, which it says is required to secure the capital needed for developing the best AI models. The complicated transition involves putting a price tag on OpenAI\u2019s nonprofit control of the for-profit arm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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