Musk’s bid to take over ChatGPT maker thwarted
Elon Musk says he will abandon his $97.4 billion offer to buy the non-profit behind OpenAI if the ChatGPT maker drops its plan to convert into a for-profit company.
“If OpenAI Inc’s board is prepared to preserve the charity’s mission and stipulate to take the ‘for sale’ sign off its assets by halting its conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid,” lawyers for the billionaire said in a filing to a California court last week.
“Otherwise, the charity must be compensated by what an arms-length buyer will pay for its assets.”
Musk and a group of investors made their offer last week, in the latest twist to a dispute with the artificial intelligence company that he helped found a decade ago.
OpenAI is controlled by a non-profit board bound to its original mission of safely building better-than-human AI for public benefit. Now a fast-growing business, it unveiled plans last year to formally change its corporate structure.
Musk and his own AI start-up, xAI, and a consortium of investment firms want to acquire the non-profit’s controlling stake in the for-profit OpenAI subsidiary.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly rejected the unsolicited bid in a post on social media and told questioners at the Paris AI Summit that the company was not for sale. The chair of OpenAI’s board, Bret Taylor, echoed those remarks at an event.
Musk and Altman helped start OpenAI in 2015 and later competed over who should lead it before Musk resigned from the board in 2018. They’ve been in a long-running and bitter feud over the start-up.
Musk again criticised Altman’s management during a videocall to the World Governments Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, describing it as akin to a non-profit aimed at saving the Amazon rainforest becoming a “lumber company that chops down the trees.” Altman has repeatedly countered that Musk’s legal challenges to OpenAI are motivated by his role as a competitor. Musk has asked a California federal judge to block OpenAI’s for-profit conversion on allegations ranging from breach of contract to antitrust violations. The judge has expressed skepticism about some of Musk’s arguments but hasn’t yet issued a ruling.
X to settle Trump’s lawsuit
Elon Musk’s social media platform X has agreed to pay about $10 million to settle a lawsuit that US President Donald Trump brought against the company and its former chief executive, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump’s team considered letting the lawsuit fizzle out, people familiar with the matter told WSJ, citing the billionaire’s close proximity to the President and the fact that Musk spent $250 million to help elect him.
X did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Last month, Meta Platforms said it had agreed to pay about $25 million to settle a lawsuit by Trump over the company’s suspension of his accounts after the January 6, 2021, attack at the US Capitol.
Meta’s Waterworth
Meta has announced its most ambitious subsea cable endeavour ever – Project Waterworth. The project is using AI to enhance subsea cable infrastructure to improve global connectivity. It focusses on enhancing cable deployment and maintenance, ensuring reliable and efficient internet access worldwide. Meta is also investing in India, one of its key markets, bringing the advanced subsea cable project to connect India.
“Driven by India’s growing demand for digital services, this investment reaffirms Meta’s commitment to economic growth, resilient infrastructure, and digital inclusion, supporting India’s thriving digital landscape and fostering technological innovation,” said a Meta spokesperson.
Further, the spokesperson said that Meta is investing in India bringing the world’s longest, highest capacity and most technologically advanced subsea cable project to connect India, the United States of America, and other locations. “This new, multi-billion dollar investment will stretch over 50,000 km to connect five continents, enhancing the scale and reliability of the global digital highways that power Meta’s apps and services, and will be ready for service at the end of the decade,” said the spokesperson.
What will Project Waterworth do?
Project Waterworth, by leveraging advanced machine learning models, aims to predict and mitigate potential disruptions, enhancing the resilience of subsea networks. The initiative will bring industry-leading connectivity to the US, India, Brazil, South Africa, and other key regions. According to Meta, the project will facilitate greater economic cooperation, digital inclusion, and open opportunities for technological development in the said regions. For instance, India has witnessed significant growth and investment in digital infrastructure. Project Waterworth will push this progress further and support the country’s vision for its digital economy. According to Meta, projects like Waterworth are the backbone of global digital infrastructure accounting for over 95 per cent of international traffic across the world’s oceans to support digital communication, video experiences, online transactions, and more.
