Elon Musk and Sam Altman Clash Over Billion-Dollar OpenAI Offer: "Scammers"

In a dramatic and heated exchange on social media, tech titans Elon Musk and Sam Altman are at odds over a billion-dollar offer for OpenAI. Musk, leading an investor group, proposed a staggering $97.4 billion to acquire the company behind ChatGPT, but OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman swiftly rejected the offer with a simple 'No, thanks.'

Furious, Musk took to X, making a series of fiery posts, accusing Altman and OpenAI of being 'scammers.'

The tension between these two tech giants has set the digital world on fire – but what’s behind this explosive battle?

A group of investors led by Elon Musk made a $97.4 billion offer to OpenAI. Görseli — The investor group, led by Elon Musk, the owner of SpaceX, Tesla, and X, proposed to buy the nonprofit organization that OpenAI is affiliated with. Although $97.4 billion may seem like a large amount, it is actually well below OpenAI's current market value.

Altman chose to respond to Musk's offer through X, the platform owned by Musk. Görseli

Elon Musk did not remain silent in response to Sam Altman’s reply.

Musk referred to Sam Altman as "Scam Altman" and expressed his distrust of him.

Elon Musk explained that OpenAI was launched as a "nonprofit" and "open-source" initiative.

This is why it was named 'OpenAI.' 'I started OpenAI as a nonprofit and open-source company. I gave the company the name 'open.' Now it is extremely closed and is all about profit... Sam Altman had claimed that he did not aim to get rich in some cases. But he also made many false claims... I don’t trust Sam Altman, and we wouldn’t want the world’s most powerful AI to be controlled by someone who isn’t trustworthy.'

So, how did Elon Musk and Sam Altman come to this point?

OpenAI was co-founded in 2015 by Sam Altman and Elon Musk. Initially started as a nonprofit, Musk later left the company due to disagreements over its future. OpenAI then partnered with Microsoft, receiving billions of dollars in investment.

Sam Altman was criticized on social media for being seen driving one of the world’s most expensive cars.

As CEO of OpenAI, Altman aims to change the organization's nonprofit status in order to attract larger capital investments. However, Musk argues that this transformation contradicts OpenAI's original mission.

In August 2024, Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI to prevent this transformation.

Musk had made a $45 million donation to the organization, but he claims this donation was made on the condition that OpenAI would remain a nonprofit.