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.

Shortly after Elon Musk made a surprise $97 billion bid for OpenAI’s assets on Monday, its CEO Sam Altman told staff in a message that its board of directors intends to make clear it has no interest in Musk’s “supposed ‘bid’” and that the offer wasn’t in the interest of OpenAI’s mission to

In a contextless post on Musk's X, Altman seems to have rejected Musk's bid. OpenAI has already raised billions of dollars from companies like Microsoft and was last valued at $157 billion. On X, Altman posted, "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Altman's quip about buying Twitter was a not-so-subtle jab at Musk.