According to a court document, Elon Musk, the CEO of xAI, proposed to Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, to jointly acquire leading artificial intelligence company OpenAI with a value of $97.4 billion by early 2025. This information comes from a report by CaiLian Press on August 22 (edited by Malan).
The document is part of the materials in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, in which Musk previously sued OpenAI for alleged violations of its founding principles through commercial transformation. Musk is one of OpenAI’s co-founders but later withdrew from the company.
The case is currently being heard in a federal court in Northern California, and a judge recently indicated that OpenAI can counter-sue Musk. OpenAI has also filed a lawsuit against Musk for malicious interference with the company’s development, alleging that Musk and xAI’s false takeover offer harmed its business and that Musk harassed OpenAI through litigation and attacks on social media and other media.
Zuckerberg is the latest prominent figure to be involved in this Silicon Valley battle. Although he and Musk had a public disagreement over their respective social media platforms’ competition, resulting in a canceled cage match, they have maintained an uneasy relationship for years. However, newly disclosed documents show that they have had unexpected business cooperation intentions.
Musk founded artificial intelligence startup xAI in 2023 with the intention of making it a direct competitor to OpenAI. In a statement to the court on Thursday, OpenAI stated that when Musk and xAI were trying to form a consortium of investors to raise funds, they provided a letter of intent to Zuckerberg, and both sides communicated about potential financing arrangements or investments.
However, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded that Zuckerberg and Meta did not sign the letter of intent. He declined to further respond, while neither Musk nor OpenAI’s legal advisors responded. As part of the lawsuit, OpenAI has requested records of communication between Meta, Zuckerberg, and Musk regarding this bidding. But Meta believes that OpenAI’s document request is too burdensome and that OpenAI should obtain relevant communications from Musk and xAI.
It is worth mentioning that OpenAI has also had a “new hatred” with Meta. In a statement, OpenAI pointed out that Meta has been investing heavily in developing its artificial intelligence models and offering top tech talents salaries of up to $100 million to lure them away, including those from OpenAI.
It is unclear how far the negotiations between Musk and Zuckerberg have progressed, but the possibility of two ambitious companies in the artificial intelligence field cooperating to acquire OpenAI might further confirm the competition faced by OpenAI in this field.