February 11, 2025: Elon Musk has made a bold attempt to acquire OpenAI, offering a staggering $97 billion for the company. However, CEO Sam Altman swiftly rejected the proposal, responding with a sharp and mocking remark that has reignited tensions between the two tech figures.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Musk, along with a group of investors, approached OpenAI’s board with an official bid to take over the company and return it to its nonprofit origins. His legal representative, Marc Toberoff, defended the offer, stating that if OpenAI’s leadership intends to continue operating as a for-profit entity, then the original nonprofit initiative must be fairly compensated for losing control over such groundbreaking technology.
Altman, however, showed no interest in Musk’s proposal. He declined with a simple "No thank you" and then took to Musk’s own social media platform, X, to fire back. In a mocking post, he wrote, “No thanks, but we’d be willing to buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you’re interested.” The remark was an obvious jab at Musk’s highly publicized and often criticized $44 billion takeover of Twitter in 2022.
Musk’s offer follows his ongoing legal battle against OpenAI, which began in 2024 when he sued the company twice. In his first lawsuit, filed in July, Musk accused OpenAI of abandoning its founding principles by shifting toward a profit-driven model that prioritized corporate interests over the public good. He argued that the company’s partnership with tech giants had compromised its original mission of making artificial intelligence accessible and beneficial for humanity.
Just a month later, Musk escalated his fight with a second lawsuit, accusing OpenAI of engaging in racketeering and recklessly advancing artificial general intelligence (AGI) purely to maximize profits. His grievances stem from his long-standing discontent with OpenAI’s transformation. As one of its original backers, Musk envisioned it as a nonprofit dedicated to AI research for the greater good. However, as OpenAI evolved into a capped-profit entity and secured lucrative deals, Musk became increasingly critical of its direction.
The ongoing feud between Musk and OpenAI has become one of the defining conflicts in the race for AI dominance. While Musk has positioned himself as a vocal advocate for AI safety and ethical considerations, he has also been working on his own AI venture, xAI, in an effort to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
As OpenAI continues to lead in AI innovation and Musk intensifies his efforts to challenge its dominance, the battle over the future of artificial intelligence is far from over. Whether Musk will push forward with more legal actions, launch new AI initiatives, or even consider taking up Altman’s sarcastic offer remains to be seen.