Court documents show that Elon Musk tried to win over Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg when he proposed the acquisition plan for OpenAI in February this year. The acquisition plan, valued at approximately US$97.4 billion, was proposed by an investment alliance led by Musk.
Background and communication details
OpenAI said in its latest legal filing that Musk had been in contact with Zuckerberg about potential financing arrangements or investments, but did not specify the form of communication. The document also pointed out that Zuckerberg and Meta neither signed the letter of intent nor participated in the acquisition process. Meta emphasized in its response that there was no evidence of any coordination between it and Musk on the acquisition.
If the two really cooperate, it will be a rare "joint effort" between these two technology giants who have long been in conflict. Musk and Zuckerberg have publicly criticized each other many times in artificial intelligence and other fields. Since Musk acquired Twitter (now the X platform) in 2022, the conflict has further intensified. In 2023, the two even agreed to have a "cage fight" through social media.
Disputes and legal disputes
Musk’s relationship with OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman has long been tense. Musk quit the company in 2018 due to power differences. After the advent of ChatGPT, he founded his own artificial intelligence company, xAI, and accused OpenAI of deviating from its original non-profit mission, and also questioned its cooperation with Microsoft. Musk has now launched lawsuits over corporate governance and restructuring issues.
In addition, earlier this month, Musk pointed the finger at Apple, criticizing it for promoting ChatGPT in the App Store and suppressing its Grok chatbot, calling this a "naked antitrust violation" and threatening legal action. Apple denies bias.