Sam Altman Reacts to Elon Musk’s Reported $94.4 Billion OpenAI Bid

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to a potential offer by a group of investors, led by his former business partner and head of Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk, to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI.

Newsweek reached out to a representative from OpenAI for comment over email.

Why It Matters

Musk and Altman cofounded OpenAI in 2015 with the mission of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. The company has since commandeered the AI boom, most famously through the release of ChatGPT. Musk left the company’s board in 2018, citing potential future conflicts of interest with his role at Tesla.

The two tech CEOs have a storied history of interactions, ranging from starting businesses together to complicated personal and legal battles over the future of artificial intelligence. Altman told Bari Weiss in December that while he’s had a “long time to get used to” the “bullying,” he still considers Musk a “friend.”

What To Know

Billionaire Musk is leading a group of investors to offer $94.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, as reported by the Wall Street Journal on Monday.

Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, said he submitted the investment bid to OpenAI’s board on Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Altman responded on X, formerly known as Twitter, shortly after the report was published.

“no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” Altman wrote.

Musk bought Twitter and rebranded it to X in 2022. The deal was for $44 billion, according to The New York Times.

Altman v. Musk: A Timeline

Musk and Altman’s relationship goes back more than a decade when the two swashbuckling entrepreneurs were making waves in the Silicon Valley startup scene.

2015

Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Altman and 10 others, originally as a nonprofit research organization meant to accelerate artificial intelligence “for the benefit of humanity.”

2018

By 2018, Musk had reportedly grown weary of OpenAI’s progress, believing it had fallen too far behind rival Google. He proposed taking over the company himself, but Altman and others balked. A power struggle ensued, and Musk eventually walked away—effectively ending his business relationship with Altman.

2022

After OpenAI launched ChatGPT to worldwide fanfare in 2022, and Altman became the public face of the AI industry, their relationship soured further. Earlier this year, Musk sued OpenAI and Altman personally, accusing them of “abandoning” the original mission to develop AI for humanity’s benefit, rather than as a for-profit enterprise.

In a series of posts around that time, Musk accused Altman and OpenAI of lying and criticized their connection to Microsoft, which had signed a multi-billion dollar investment deal with OpenAI. At one point, Musk suggested the company change its name to “ClosedAI.”

Musk claimed that once OpenAI took money from Microsoft, the company breached its founding statement.

OpenAI responded with a blog post on its website “to move to dismiss all of Elon’s claims,” calling Musk’s posts “frivolous.”

The organization posted screenshots of emails from Musk that showed him pushing for OpenAI to start with a $1 billion funding commitment rather than $100 million.

OpenAI also shared how “we couldn’t agree to terms on a for-profit with Elon because we felt it was against the mission for any individual to have absolute control over OpenAI.”

Musk had reportedly wanted “majority equity, initial board control and to be CEO,” according to OpenAI. During the power struggle, Musk withheld funding during the discussions, and the entrepreneur Reid Hoffman had to “bridge the gap to cover salaries and operations.”

“In early February 2018, Elon forwarded us an email suggesting that OpenAI should ‘attach to Tesla as its cash cow,’ commenting that it was ‘exactly right… Tesla is the only path that could even hope to hold a candle to Google. Even then, the probability of being a counterweight to Google is small. It just isn’t zero,'” the post read.

Despite their personal relationship having deteriorated, Altman invested in Musk’s privately held brain implant venture Neuralink in 2021. (OpenAI and Neuralink had at one point shared office space in San Francisco.)

The next year, Altman and Musk had a reunion of sorts at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, better known as “summer camp for billionaires.” Musk was interviewed by Altman, where he reportedly opined on Mars travel and declining birth rates.

2024

The detente was short-lived. In June, Musk fired off a post on X saying that if Apple integrates OpenAI into its product line, as the company has planned, the devices will be banned at his various companies. The comment came after Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president who was also named in Musk’s lawsuit, said ChatGPT would be built into Apple’s operating systems for iPhones, iPads and Mac computers.

A day later, Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman was withdrawn.

Elon Musk’s New Prominence In Politics

Since Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, Musk has been an ever-growing presence in U.S. politics, joining rallies, speaking out on social media, and now heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk recently urged lawmakers to vote down an original bipartisan spending bill and said any lawmaker who supported it should be voted out of office. At one point, some Republican lawmakers called for Musk to become House speaker. He has also been at the center of the ongoing H-1B visa program debate.

More recently, Musk announced that USAID would shut down.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent approved Musk’s access to the Treasury on Friday. It allows him and his team entry into a system responsible for trillions of dollars in government payments, including Social Security checks and tax refunds.

Last week, top Democrats called out the “unelected shadow government” that has been “conducting a hostile takeover of the federal government.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries unveiled a new bill called “Stop the Steal,” which they say is “to prevent unlawful meddling in the Treasury Department’s payment systems and protect Americans across the country.”

The billionaire was also the center of anti-Trump demonstrations through the 50501 Movement last Wednesday.

On Sunday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was directed to stop investigations, and Musk posted “CFPB RIP.”

Musk has changed the bio on his X account to read “White House tech support.”

A member of DOGE last week reportedly resigned after The Wall Street Journal inquired with the White House about his association with a social media account that promoted racism and eugenics. He was then later reinstated by Musk, according to a post he made on X.

What People Are Saying

Elon Musk through a statement provided by his attorney to the Wall Street Journal: “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. We will make sure that happens.”

In response to Altman’s offer to buy X, Musk replied, “Swindler”.

In response to both, Joe Adams, who identifies as a “cybersecurity enthusiast” and “tech blogger” said, “I really wish the two of you would knock off this tech bro pissing contest. You two have the most unique positions in the WORLD to make a change for the BETTER. Do THAT. Please.”

What’s Next

Musk and Altman are battling it out in court over the future direction of OpenAI.

Update 02/10/25 5:39 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.