Last March, Musk filed a lawsuit claiming OpenAI, a global leader in artificial intelligence innovation which has developed the ChatGPT chatbot, DALL-E image generator and other advanced AI-driven tools, breached promises made in its founding documents and prioritizes profit motive over serving the public good.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Altman says OpenAI is “not for sale” and the bid is the latest of “tactics, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this” for the “competitor” Musk to “slow us down.

F or most startups, a buyout offer nearing $100bn is something to be celebrated. But Open AI is not like other startups—and Elon Musk is not like other acquirers.