Elon Musk’s $97B Offer—But Does He Even Want OpenAI?

📌TL;DR

• Musk’s $97B Power Move – He wants OpenAI back, but only if it ditches its for-profit model. Altman isn’t budging.

• GPT-5 & the $500B AI Leap – OpenAI is going all-in on smarter AI, aiming to outthink humans and make scientific breakthroughs.

• Who Controls AI’s Future? – If Musk wins, AI could be freer but riskier. If Altman stays, expect stronger AI… but behind paywalls.

• More AI news…

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes.

TOGETHER WITH GAMMA

The future of presentations, powered by AI

Gamma is a modern alternative to slides, powered by AI. Create beautiful and engaging presentations in minutes. Try it free today.

CATCH OF THE DAY

The $97 Billion Tug-of-War Over AI’s Future

Musk doesn’t just want OpenAI… he wants to reshape how AI is built.

He’s made it clear that he believes OpenAI has lost its way, trading its original open-source, nonprofit mission for corporate power and paywalled AI.

His answer?

Buy OpenAI, take it back to its roots, or walk away.

🛑 His ultimatum: Either OpenAI ditches its for-profit model, or he backs off entirely.

If Musk gets his way, OpenAI could shift back toward open-source AI… more accessible, but with far fewer safeguards.

If he fails? AI development keeps accelerating under corporate control, likely at a steep cost for users.

The question isn’t just who owns OpenAI… it’s who decides how AI will evolve.

Meanwhile, OpenAI Is Busy Building

While Musk was plotting a corporate takeover, OpenAI was out here planning the next era of AI.

Here’s what’s coming:

GPT-4.5 (Orion) – The last model before OpenAI fully commits to "chain-of-thought" reasoning.

Meaning the next AI models won’t just generate words, they’ll think through complex problems. (Great, now AI has better critical thinking than some people on the internet.)

GPT-5 – OpenAI’s new “all-in-one” AI system, where you don’t have to pick a model.

It’ll just work. 

Like a universal remote, but actually useful.

The $500B Stargate Project – OpenAI’s casual plan to use AI to make actual scientific discoveries… because apparently, AI isn’t just here to write tweets and edit videos anymore.

It’s about to start out-researching human scientists.

So, yeah. Sam Altman’s big claim?

AI will eventually surpass humans in every field.

No pressure.

Musk’s Takeover Attempt Has a Plot Twist

Here’s where it gets weird… Musk doesn’t actually want OpenAI if it stays for-profit.

He’s been loudly complaining that OpenAI “sold out” by moving from a nonprofit, open-source project to a corporate AI powerhouse that’s deeply in bed with Microsoft.

🔹 If OpenAI stays for-profit? Musk walks away like he just rage-quit a game of Monopoly.
🔹 If OpenAI goes back to nonprofit? Musk might take over and turn it into an open-source free-for-all.

And this is where creators should care.

Because the future of AI… how accessible it is, whether it’s paywalled, and how “safe” it actually stays, depends on how this shakes out.

The Final Byte

This isn’t just Musk vs. Altman. This is a fight over AI’s future.

If Musk wins?

OpenAI could shift back to an open-source model, meaning free access but fewer safeguards.

Innovation could skyrocket, but so could AI misuse and chaos.

If Altman stays in charge?

AI gets smarter, more controlled, and definitely more expensive.

You might be able to do insane new things with AI, but only if you can afford it.

AI regulation is the wildcard.

If governments step in, AI might slow down. If they don’t?

It’s about to hit warp speed… with or without safety rails.

So here’s the big question: Would you rather have AI that’s open and free, or locked down but safer?

And if OpenAI starts charging premium prices for its best models, does that change how you’d use AI?

Food for thought.

See you in the next one,

A MESSAGE FROM THE AI REPORT

There’s a reason 400,000 professionals read this daily.

Join The AI Report, trusted by 400,000+ professionals at Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Get daily insights, tools, and strategies to master practical AI skills that drive results.

Sign up now for free and work smarter, not harder.

BYTE-SIZED BUZZ

Here’s a quick roundup of what’s making waves in the AI world this week.

DeepSeek’s AI Model Fails the Safety Test 🚨

The DeepSeek R1 model was found to be way too easy to manipulate, allowing users to generate harmful content like bioweapon instructions.

Even ChatGPT refused the same prompts.

The Big Deal: AI security remains a huge concern—while open models provide more access, they also risk being misused.

France’s $112B AI Power Move 🇫🇷

France announced a €109B AI investment, with backing from the UAE and major European tech firms.

The funding will go toward AI infrastructure, research, and startups.

The Big Deal: Europe is stepping up its AI game, challenging the U.S. and China as a major AI powerhouse.

ByteDance’s Goku AI Takes on Hollywood 🎬

ByteDance unveiled Goku AI, a next-gen image & video model designed for hyperrealistic commercial content.

It can generate photorealistic avatars and seamless product videos.

The Big Deal: AI-generated content is getting scarily good. Marketing and film industries will have a new level of automation (and deepfake concerns).

YouTube Expands AI Tools for Creators 🎥

YouTube rolled out AI-powered dubbing, enhanced content moderation, and AI-generated visuals to help creators reach global audiences more easily.

The Big Deal: AI is revolutionizing content creation, making it faster, easier, and more scalable… but also raising concerns about AI transparency and originality.

Adobe’s Firefly Video Model Launches 📽️

Adobe has released Firefly Video Model, an AI-powered video generator designed to be legally safe for commercial use.

It outputs 1080p clips, supports camera control and motion graphics, and integrates with Adobe Creative Cloud.

The Big Deal: Unlike many AI video tools, Firefly is built to avoid copyright issues, making it a top pick for brands and agencies that need AI-generated content without legal headaches.

SUGGESTION BOX