This marks Musk’s latest move to block OpenAI’s shift to a for-profit structure. Musk co-founded OpenAI with Sam Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit but left before it gained traction. In 2023, he launched xAI, a direct competitor in the AI space. OpenAI argues that a for-profit structure is necessary to secure the funding to advance its AI technology.

Elon Musk and a consortium of investors have made an unsolicited bid of $97.4 billion for a controlling interest in the non-profit that operates OpenAI, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.

Artificial intelligence is not a normal technology. This maxim guides potentially trillions of dollars of capital, investor glee and pain, and the clout of OpenAI boss Sam Altman and his nemesis Elon Musk.