After joining Elon Musk in his $97.4 billion offer to take control of OpenAI’s for-profit enterprise, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel is going on the offensive against the CEO’s stewardship of the company behind ChatGPT.
“There’s been a mass exodus of OpenAI’s top people charged with AI governance because Sam was prioritizing ‘shiny objects over safety,” Emanuel said in an interview with Stephen Dubner at the Freakonomics Radio Live show on Thursday at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, referencing the flight of executives from the AI firm over concerns that it’s not responsibly developing the technology.
The unsolicited offer delivered to OpenAI’s board of directors on Monday escalated a battle over the company’s for-profit pivot between Altman, who immediately turned down the bid in a post on X and proposed buying “twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” and Musk, who replied “Swindler.” Emanuel’s enlistment in the bid could signal plans to encourage adoption of AI tools across Hollywood. OpenAI has been courting the industry after it unveiled Sora, capable of creating hyperrealist videos with a prompt of just a couple sentences that could have applications in postproduction.
At the Paris AI Action Summit on Tuesday, Altman characterized Musk’s surprise bid for OpenAI as a move to undermine competition.
“I don’t think he’s a happy person,” he added. I do feel for him.”
Speaking to Musk’s perspective of the situation, the fiery TKO CEO said, “All I say to you is: Sam said that Elon was ‘unhappy as a person.’ Yeah, thank you for your analysis! Elon is unhappy because you’re phony and trying to get away with cheating the charity and its original mission. Elon is not.”
The consortium of investors led by Musk isn’t proposing to buy the charity, OpenAI, but rather its majority share of Altman and Microsoft’s for-profit OpenAI enterprise, Emanuel added to clarify what he considers “miscommunications and misconceptions” floated by the AI firm after the bid was submitted.
Musk’s offer could complicate OpenAI’s spinoff of the nonprofit that oversees the company, possibly forcing it to increase its bid.
“Sam and his Board are offering $30 billion. $97.4 billion is more than $30 billion. They have massive equity in the for-profit AI group and are on the board of the non-profit. They are sort of double-dealing here,” Emanuel said.
He stressed, “It’s hard to see how that trade determined by Sam on both sides of the negotiating table would further the charity’s ‘mission.”
In 2023, OpenAI saw $1.6 billion in revenue, with the charity receiving $5 million, according to Emanuel.
In January, Marc Toberoff, a lawyer for Musk, sent a letter to the attorneys general in California and Delaware urging them to allow an “open, competitive bidding” process in the sale of the nonprofit that oversees OpenAI. Concerns revolve around the AI firm undervaluing the nonprofit when it’s spun out.
Musk’s ties to OpenAI can be traced back to 2015, when he cofounded the company with Altman alongside a group of other prominent Silicon Valley investors. The X owner left the board in 2018 due to a potential conflict of interest with Tesla, which he owns and was ramping up its focus on AI.
Last year, Musk reignited a legal battle against OpenAI over its for-profit pivot. He alleged fraud and breach of contract in a lawsuit saying he was swindled when he invested roughly $45 million into the AI venture, which he said betrayed its original mission to safely develop the technology “for the benefit of humanity.” In Musk’s telling, Altman illegally partnered with Microsoft to establish a web of illicit affiliates and plunder its nonprofit arm of assets and staff in violation of their deal.
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