- Elon Musk will withdraw his $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI’s nonprofit arm if the company stops its conversion to a for-profit entity, as stated in a court filing.
- Musk accuses OpenAI, which he helped found and initially funded with $50 million, of abandoning its mission to develop AI for good in favor of profit, a claim CEO Sam Altman dismisses as competitive strategy.
- Musk also announced that xAI‘s Grok 3, described as “scary smart” with superior reasoning skills, will be released in about a week, amid his ongoing critique of OpenAI’s shift to profit-making.
Elon Musk has publicly announced his intention to withdraw his $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI’s nonprofit arm if the company agrees to halt its transition into a for-profit entity. This statement, as reported by CNBC, was made clear in a court filing submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where Musk’s condition for withdrawing the bid is that OpenAI must remain committed to its original nonprofit mission. The filing stipulates that if OpenAI continues on its current path, the charity should be compensated based on what an arms-length buyer would pay for its assets.
The bid to buy OpenAI’s nonprofit side was launched by Musk, his AI company xAI, and a group of investors, escalating tensions due to Musk’s allegations that OpenAI, under CEO Sam Altman, has deviated from its founding principles of developing AI for the greater good in favor of profit-making motives. Altman has dismissed the bid as a competitive tactic by Musk to hinder OpenAI’s progress.
OpenAI, initially established as a nonprofit in 2015 with Musk’s financial backing of about $50 million, later adopted a “capped profit” model in 2019. This shift has been a point of contention for Musk, who left the board in 2018 and has since criticized the company’s direction towards profitability. In a public address at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Musk emphasized his belief that OpenAI should not completely abandon its nonprofit roots, highlighting the contrast between its original mission and its current business model.
Musk’s comments come at a time when he is also advancing his own AI projects. He announced that Grok 3, developed by xAI, would be released in “a week or two” and described it as “scary smart,” claiming it exhibits reasoning capabilities superior to any existing AI model. This statement not only underscores Musk’s ongoing involvement in AI development but also frames his critique of OpenAI within the context of broader industry competition and innovation.
The situation underscores a significant debate in the AI community regarding the balance between nonprofit missions and the financial imperatives of tech development. Musk’s actions and statements reflect a deep concern for the ethical implications of AI, emphasizing the need for technology to serve humanitarian goals rather than solely profit-driven objectives. This case also highlights the complexities of ownership, control, and mission in tech companies, especially those with transformative potential like AI. Whether Musk’s bid will lead to a reevaluation of OpenAI’s strategy or merely escalate legal and public confrontations remains to be seen.
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