OpenAI Rejects Elon Musk’s Bid to Gain Control of the Company

OpenAI’s board of directors on Friday rejected a $97.4 billion bid by Elon Musk and a consortium of investors to gain control of the artificial intelligence company, deepening a feud between Mr. Musk and OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman.

In a statement, Bret Taylor, the chairman of the OpenAI board, said, “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition.”

OpenAI also sent a letter to Mr. Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, saying that the bid was “not in the best interests of OAI’s mission.”

Mr. Musk and Mr. Toberoff did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

OpenAI’s rejection followed the $97.4 billion offer from Mr. Musk and other investors on Monday for the assets of the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. With the bid, Mr. Musk was meddling in a plan that Mr. Altman has made to change OpenAI’s corporate structure by shifting control of the company from the nonprofit to OpenAI’s investors, including Microsoft.

Mr. Musk and Mr. Altman have been at odds for years. Mr. Musk helped create OpenAI as a nonprofit in 2015, along with Mr. Altman and others. In 2018, Mr. Musk left the organization after a battle for control of the company. Mr. Altman then attached OpenAI to a for-profit company so he could raise the billions of dollars needed to build A.I. technologies.

The nonprofit retained control of the company. Last year, Mr. Altman and his colleagues began working on a plan to shift control of the company from the nonprofit to OpenAI’s investors. Mr. Musk’s $97.4 bid could complicate that plan.

(The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. OpenAI and Microsoft have denied those claims.)

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.