[Artificial Intelligence. Photo Credit to Pixabay]

In an attempt to stop the artificial intelligence startup from becoming a for-profit company, a group led by Elon Musk has made an offer of $97.4 billion to purchase the non-profit that owns OpenAI.

The group consists of investors, Hollywood power broker Ari Emanuel, Vy Capital, and Xai, Mr. Musk's artificial intelligence business. 

Longstanding disagreements with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on the future of the ChatGPT maker are likely to intensify as a result of Musk’s proposal. 

The company currently stands at the center of a generative AI technology boom.

The offer for OpenAI is Mr. Musk's most recent—and arguably boldest—attack on a company he helped build over a decade ago. 

In 2015, Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI as a nonprofit organization, but Musk left before the business gained traction and in 2023, he established the rival AI firm xAI.

OpenAI's attempt to finalize a $40 billion fundraising package that would approximately double the company's valuation from only four months ago may be complicated by Mr. Musk's unsolicited offer.

The Japanese corporation SoftBank is leading the latest fundraising round, which values OpenAI at $300 billion. 

The valuation would place OpenAI with SpaceX, the rocket company founded by Elon Musk, and ByteDance, the firm behind TikTok, as one of the most valuable private companies in the world.

OpenAI claims that in order to obtain the funding required to create the best AI models, it must change from a nonprofit organization to a for-profit one.

In contrast to many major behemoths like Microsoft or Meta, OpenAI is not a publicly listed business. 

Rather, it has a convoluted structure that combines for-profit and nonprofit entities. 

Musk claims that he wishes to bring it back to its non-profit beginnings and its initial goal of creating AI for the good of humanity. 

According to Altman, the organization will be able to generate more funds for AI research if it becomes a completely for-profit business. 

Altman is not alone in making the decision on OpenAI's future, though; the board will also have a voice in the matter and could support a sale, particularly if the price is raised.

The $97.4 billion offer is much less than the $157 billion OpenAI was valued at during its most recent investment round, which took place in October of last year.

In addition, ChatGPT's developer is collaborating with Oracle, another major US IT company, a Japanese investment business, and an Emirati sovereign wealth fund to construct $500 billion worth of AI infrastructure in the US.

President Donald Trump introduced a new initiative called the Stargate Project at the White House.

The Stargate Project represents an ambitious effort to develop advanced AI infrastructure in the United States.

President Trump described it as the greatest AI infrastructure project in history, stating that it would help maintain the future of technology in the United States.

Despite being one of Trump's top advisors, Musk has questioned whether the company has the funds it has promised to contribute, but he has also offered no explanation or evidence to support his claims.