PARIS: Artificial intelligence (AI) developer OpenAI is “not for sale”, chief executive Sam Altman said in Paris on Tuesday in response to a reported $97.4 billion bid from competitor Elon Musk.

“OpenAI has a mission… of making AGI benefit all of humanity,” Altman told a tech business event on the sidelines of the Paris AI summit, referring to an artificial general intelligence that would be smarter than a human in all areas.

“We are not for sale,” he added, reiterating the ChatGPT maker’s message throughout the day in response to the takeover bid from Musk.

The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday that Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, had made his $97.4 billion offer to the board. The Tesla, SpaceX and OpenAI challenger xAI chief’s intervention comes as OpenAI is raising cash and transforming itself into a for-profit entity.

OpenAI’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane had earlier said Musk’s offer came from a competitor “who has struggled to keep up with the technology and compete with us in the marketplace”.

Altman said that the economic potential of AI made the present a “moment that I’ve never seen before”.

“Maybe it was like this at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Maybe it was like this at the beginning of the internet,” he added.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2025