The Dirty Truth Behind Musk and Altman's Mud Fight

Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. On Monday, Elon Musk and a group of investors made an unsolicited offer to buy ChatGPT parent company OpenAI for 97.4 billion. This ticked off OpenAI CEO Sam Altman not only because the company isn't for sale, but because the offer is insultingly low. OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise new money in a funding round led by SoftBank at a 300 billion valuation, which would make it the most valuable privately held company in the world. Altman's return fire was equally petty, with him refusing via tweet before offering to buy Musk's social media company X for a decimal-sliding 9.74 billion.