SAN FRANCISCO (AP) 鈥� OpenAI says its board of directors has unanimously rejected a by Elon Musk.
鈥淥penAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk鈥檚 latest attempt to disrupt his competition," said a statement Friday from Bret Taylor, chair of OpenAI's board.
OpenAI attorney William Savitt in a letter to Musk's attorney Friday said the proposal 鈥渋s not in the best interests of OAI鈥檚 mission and is rejected.鈥�
Musk, an early OpenAI investor, began a legal offensive against the ChatGPT maker nearly a year ago, suing for breach of contract over what he said was the betrayal of its founding aims as a nonprofit.
OpenAI has increasingly sought to capitalize on the commercial success of generative AI. But the for-profit company is a subsidiary of a nonprofit entity that's bound to a mission 鈥� which Musk helped set 鈥� to safely build better-than-human AI for humanity's benefit. OpenAI is now seeking to more fully convert itself to a for-profit company, but would first have to buy out the nonprofit's assets.
Throwing a wrench in those plans, Musk and his own AI startup, xAI, and a group of investment firms announced a bid Monday to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. Musk in a court filing Wednesday further detailed the proposal to acquire the nonprofit鈥檚 controlling stake.
Savitt's letter Friday said that court filing added 鈥渘ew material conditions to the proposal. As a result of that filing, it is now apparent that your clients鈥� much-publicized 鈥榖id鈥� is in fact not a bid at all.鈥� In any event, 鈥渆ven as first presented,鈥� the board has unanimously rejected it, Savitt said.
Musk has alleged in the lawsuit that OpenAI is violating the terms of his foundational contributions to the charity. Musk had invested about $45 million in the startup from its founding until 2018, his lawyer has said.
He escalated the legal dispute late last year, adding new claims and defendants, including OpenAI's business partner Microsoft, and asking for a court order that would halt . Musk also added xAI as a plaintiff, claiming that OpenAI was also unfairly stifling business competition. A judge is still considering Musk's request but expressed skepticism about some of his claims in a court hearing last week.
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The Associated Press
