Today: 17 May 2025
26 March 2023
1 min read

Musk tried to take over OpenAI in 2018, but failed

According to a Semafor report, he also reneged on a promise to supply $1 billion in funding, contributing only $100 million before he walked…reports Asian Lite News

Elon Musk tried to take control of OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, in early 2018 but Sam Altman and OpenAI’s other founders rejected Musk’s proposal.

Musk, in turn, walked away from the company and reneged on a massive planned donation, reports Semafor. Musk told Altman that he believed the “venture had fallen fatally behind Google”.

But the Twitter CEO failed to convince OpenAI founders to take over the AI chatbot ChatGPT creator. When Musk walked away, he resigned from its board in 2018 citing a conflict of interest with his work at Tesla.

According to a Semafor report, he also reneged on a promise to supply $1 billion in funding, contributing only $100 million before he walked.

This left OpenAI with “no ability to pay the astronomical fees associated with training AI models on supercomputers”.

In March, 2019, OpenAI announced it was creating a for-profit entity so that it could raise enough money to pay for the compute power.

“We want to increase our ability to raise capital while still serving our mission, and no pre-existing legal structure we know of strikes the right balance,” the company wrote at the time.

Less than six months later, Microsoft infused $1 billion in OpenAI, and the rest is history. They built a supercomputer to train massive models that eventually created ChatGPT and the image generator DALL-E.

The latest language model, GPT-4, has 1 trillion parameters. Musk has now raised questions over how a non-profit has become a $30 billion maximum-profit company for Satya Nadella-run tech giant.

“I’m still confused as to how a non-profit to which I donated $100 million somehow became a $30 billion market cap for-profit. If this is legal, why doesn’t everyone do it?” he quipped.

Musk has also paused OpenAI access to Twitter database. The AI chatbot ChatGPT is now a rage and Microsoft has infused $10 billion into it to make it more useful for across industries.

ALSO READ-AI one of biggest risks to civilisation, warns Elon Musk

Previous Story

Inflation dampens Ramadan spirit in Pakistan

Next Story

ChatGPT bug may have exposed payment information

Latest from -Top News

Trump sheds isolationism during Middle East trip

His four-day trip through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE has underscored how dramatically he has reimagined traditional alliances and inserted himself into global conflicts The first major overseas trip of President

Hamas engaged in direct talks with US

Hamas, which has governed Gaza since winning the 2006 Palestinian elections, is calling for a prisoner exchange, the total withdrawal of Israeli forces…reports Asian Lite News In a notable development, a senior

Strong families, stronger UAE vision

Marking the International Day of Families, the government has underscored the importance of nurturing, empowering, and sustaining strong family units as the bedrock of progress. The UAE has reaffirmed its unwavering commitment

Digital School expands Africa footprint

UAE-led initiative drives regional collaboration, youth empowerment through digital education The Digital School, a flagship initiative of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI), has deepened its commitment to digital education

UAE honours Trump

President Trump receives the UAE’s highest civilian honour – the Order of Zayed – as he and H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed reaffirm a deepening strategic partnership across technology, defence, and regional
Go toTop

Don't Miss

Zuckerberg says he’s ready for cage fight, Musk reacts

When a Threads user asked if the fight being streamed

OpenAI Faces Another Lawsuit Over Alleged Copyright Infringement

The lawsuit alleged that “OpenAI’s acts of copyright infringement have