Elon Musk Called Mark Zuckerberg to Help Him Acquire OpenAI

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, attempted earlier this year to enlist the help of Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg in financing the acquisition of OpenAI for $97.4 billion, as revealed by court documents published on Thursday. The documents are part of a legal proceeding between Musk and OpenAI initiated last year. The case is ongoing in federal court in Northern California. A judge recently stated that OpenAI is also allowed to file a counterclaim against Musk, who co-founded OpenAI as a nonprofit organization in 2015 with Sam Altman and others.

When Musk proposed the acquisition of OpenAI in February, he was angered by the company’s and Altman‘s efforts to transform it from a nonprofit into a for-profit enterprise. Altman and Musk, who had been long-time friends, turned into bitter enemies after OpenAI became a leader in the field of generative artificial intelligence, with Microsoft providing it billions of dollars in funding.

In 2023, Musk founded xAI, aiming to make it a direct competitor to OpenAI. He later also sued OpenAI for alleged breach of contract and attempted to prevent OpenAI from becoming a for-profit entity. In its counterclaim, OpenAI states that Musk and xAI’s ‘alleged offer to purchase’ harmed OpenAI’s business, accusing Musk of ‘harassment’ through lawsuits and attacks on social media and in the press.

As part of the lawsuit, OpenAI filed a request for the court to ask Meta for insight into the communication between the company and its CEO with Musk regarding the acquisition offer for OpenAI. When they were trying to form a consortium of investors to finance the acquisition, Musk and xAI approached Zuckerberg with a letter of intent and asked him ‘about possible financing or investment arrangements,’ OpenAI claims in a statement to the court published on Thursday. Neither Zuckerberg nor Meta signed that letter of intent, according to the court documents.

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the situation. Musk’s legal representative in this case, Marc Toberoff, did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Meta, on the other hand, is ‘intensively spending on developing its own artificial intelligence capabilities’ and ‘offering salaries of $100 million and more to leading artificial intelligence researchers while trying to poach employees from OpenAI,’ according to OpenAI’s statement in the court documents. OpenAI’s document requests are too burdensome, Meta responded, directing the company to obtain relevant communication from Musk and xAI, Reuters reports.