Elon Musk's Unexpected Action With Mark Zuckerberg

Elon Musk has long had the intention of acquiring OpenAI with Mark Zuckerberg. Photo: CNBC .

Billionaire Elon Musk has asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to co-finance a $97.4 billion acquisition of OpenAI in early 2025, according to a court filing made public on August 21.

The information is part of a legal case between Musk and OpenAI, which is ongoing in a federal court in Northern California, USA. The proposal represents a surprising attempt to combine the financial might of two of Silicon Valley's most powerful figures to acquire a rising star in the field of artificial intelligence.

The news comes as a surprise because Musk and Zuckerberg don't have a good relationship. The two have repeatedly fought on social media, especially when the SpaceX boss bought Twitter and Meta launched Threads. The billionaires even arranged a boxing match, although the event later fell through.

The problem dates back to 2015, when Elon Musk became angry at the company and CEO Sam Altman’s efforts to transition from a nonprofit to a monetized model. Once close friends, Altman and Musk became rivals, especially after OpenAI took the lead in the field of generative artificial intelligence (AI) with a multibillion-dollar investment from Microsoft.

In 2023, Mr. Musk founded xAI with the goal of becoming a direct competitor to OpenAI. He subsequently sued OpenAI for breach of contract and sought to prevent the company from transitioning to a for-profit business model.

In its counterclaims, OpenAI alleges that Musk and xAI’s “fraudulent bid efforts” have severely damaged its business. The company also claims that Musk has engaged in “harassment” through lawsuits, as well as attacks on social media and the media.

As part of the lawsuit, OpenAI has filed a subpoena to Meta, asking for communications between the company, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk about the deal.

In a court filing on August 21, OpenAI said Musk and xAI, in an effort to find investors to fund the acquisition, approached Mr. Zuckerberg with a letter of intent (LOI). The letter mentioned “potential financial arrangements or investments.”

Neither CEO Mark Zuckerberg nor Meta signed the letter, according to the filing. A Meta spokesman declined to comment. Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, did not respond to a request for comment.

The filing also shows that Meta is “spending heavily to develop its own AI capabilities,” “offering compensation packages of $100 million or more to top AI researchers, and attempting to poach OpenAI employees.” Meta, for its part, argues that OpenAI’s document requests are too cumbersome and that OpenAI should collect relevant communications from Musk and xAI itself.

Source: https://znews.vn/elon-musk-tung-ru-mark-zuckerberg-thau-tom-openai-post1579053.html