OpenAI claims Musk Tried To Get Zuckerberg To Join His Bid To Buy ChatGPT Maker

Topline

Elon Musk tried to get Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on board for his unsolicited $97.4 billion offer to purchase the non-profit that controls OpenAI earlier this year, the ChatGPT maker claimed in court filings made on Thursday, in an unusual move that came just a year and a half after the two tech billionaires feuded publicly and challenged each other to a cage fight.

xAI owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk tried to bring Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to join his nearly $100 billion unsolicited bid for OpenAI, according to a court filing.

Key Facts

OpenAI’s claim was made in a filing before the Northern District of California federal court, as part of Musk and OpenAI’s ongoing legal case, which began last year after the billionaire Tesla CEO and xAI owner sued the artificial intelligence company over its bid to transition into a for-profit entity.

In response to legal questions served by OpenAI, Musk “identified Mark Zuckerberg” as an individual he “communicated” with regarding “potential financing arrangements or investments” in connection with the ChatGPT-maker, the filing said.

The filing noted that neither Zuckerberg nor Meta signed Musk’s letter of intent or participated in Musk’s $97.4 billion bid.

As part of its filing, OpenAI urged the judge overseeing the case to order Meta to share any documents and communications related to Musk’s bid, noting: “Meta’s communications with other bidders…discussions with Musk or other bidders, would also shed light on the motivations for the bid.”

In the same filing, Meta asks the court to deny OpenAI’s subpoena, claiming that the documents OpenAI is seeking should be directly obtained from Musk and any documents requested from the social media giant “are not relevant to this action.”

What Do We Know About Musk And Openai’s Legal Battle?

Musk, one of the cofounders of OpenAI, filed a lawsuit against the company and its CEO Sam Altman last year, alleging they undermined OpenAI’s foundational goal of developing an open-source AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) to “benefit humanity” in favor of maximizing profits. Musk claimed when OpenAI founders Altman and Greg Brockman approached him in 2015, they agreed to launch “a non-profit developing AGI for the benefit of humanity, not for a for-profit company seeking to maximize shareholder profits.” The billionaire claimed, according to the original agreement, the AGI would be open-source, barring safety considerations. Musk alleged OpenAI, which is in the process of becoming a for-profit entity, has reneged on the original agreement. In response, OpenAI’s leadership claimed Musk had recognized back in 2017 that a “for-profit entity” would be needed to achieve OpenAI’s goals of creating AGI and he even attempted to become the CEO and major equity holder of such an entity. The company said it could not agree to Musk’s terms and the billionaire then chose to leave OpenAI in February 2018. Earlier this year, OpenAI countersued Musk, alleging the billionaire was running malicious campaigns against the company.

What Do We Know About Musk’s Unsolicited Bid For Openai?

In February this year, Musk and a group of other investors made a $97.4 billion unsolicited bid to take control of the non-profit holding company that controls OpenAI. The ChatGPT-maker’s CEO quickly rejected Musk’s offer and mocked his social media platform, with a post saying: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” In a court filing made in response to Musk’s offer, the artificial intelligence company pointed out that the bid undercut Musk’s suit against the company, which claimed that OpenAI’s assets cannot be “transferred away” for “private gain.”

What Did Openai Say About Meta’s Ai Efforts?

In the filing, OpenAI also addressed Meta’s own AI building efforts and claimed the company was trying to poach top talent from OpenAI. The ChatGPT-maker said: “Meta…has been spending heavily to develop its own AI capabilities, including, according to public reports, offering pay packages of $100 million or more to leading AI researchers and attempting to poach OpenAI employees.”

Forbes Valuation

According to Forbes’ estimates, Elon Musk’s current net worth stands at $407.9 billion, making him the world’s richest person. With an estimated net worth of $254.9 billion, Zuckerberg is currently third on Forbes’ Real Time Billionaires’ List.

What Do We Know About Zuckerberg And Musk’s Earlier Feud?

A public feud between Musk and Zuckerberg broke out in 2023, as reports emerged that Meta was building a competitor to take on Twitter. Responding to news of the platform, which eventually launched as Threads, Musk joked he’d be “up for a cage match” if Zuckerberg was willing. The Meta CEO swiftly shot back with a post on Instagram Stories showing a screenshot of Musk’s tweet with the caption “send me location.” Musk kept teasing the fight for the next several months, and even suggested that it would be live-streamed on X and proceeds from the event would go to a “charity for veterans.” The fight, however, never took place.