Elon Musk says he will drop efforts to buy OpenAI if it stays nonprofit

Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Elon Musk said he would drop a bid to purchase OpenAI if the artificial intelligence leader remained a nonprofit.

The assertion in court filings on Wednesday was the latest back-in-forth between Musk, the world's richest man, and OpenAI's founder Sam Altman.

"If OpenAI Inc.'s board is prepared to preserve the charity's mission and stipulate to take 'for sale' sign off its assets by halting conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid," Musk said in Wednesday's court document.

"Otherwise, the charity must be compensated by what arm's-length buyer will pay for its assets."

On Monday, Musk and his investors' group offered $97.4 billion for OpenAI, the world's leading artificial intelligence company.

So far, Altman has rejected Musk's offer, charging that Musk is more interested in an effort to "slow down a competitor" rather than buying OpenAI. The company started as a nonprofit in 2015 and converted to a "capped profit" in 2019.

Musk, in the meantime, has voiced his opposition to OpenAI's move away from its original nonprofit status.

While Musk provided some of the initial funding for OpenAI, Altman said in December the organization started to move toward a capped-profit model because the founder of Tesla and SpaceX ended his financial contributions.

He told CNBC the status would make OpenAI more attractive to investors.