Elon Musk Reportedly Intended To Merge OpenAI With Tesla Before His Departure In 2018, Couldn't Convince Sam Altman

Elon Musk reportedly tried to merge ChatGPT-parent OpenAI with Tesla Inc. TSLA but was unsuccessful in convincing Sam Altman and the team. 

What Happened: Musk sought to consolidate the OpenAI lab into Tesla when he played a significant role as a co-founder and board member at the company, according to an excerpt from the billionaire’s biography published in Time. 

At the time, Tesla had aggressively ramped up its AI development efforts. However, OpenAI resisted the merger proposal and declined it.

Instead, Altman, who later assumed the role of OpenAI’s CEO, took the reins and led the company in a different direction.

See Also: Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Grimes, Jensen Huang Are Among Time Magazine’s Top Artificial Intelligence Voices

The latest revelation coincides with a March 2023 report that stated that in early 2018, Musk told Altman that OpenAI had fallen way behind Alphabet Inc.‘s GOOG GOOGL Google. 

He then purportedly proposed to take over OpenAI and run it himself, but it was promptly turned down by Altman and the other founders.

Fast forward four years, and OpenAI made waves in the AI community by releasing ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot that triggered an AI arms race among major tech players.

Microsoft Corporation‘s MSFT increased investment in OpenAI followed the unprecedented popularity of ChatGPT, alongside the emergence of similar offerings, including Google Bard and Bing AI.

Musk, having watched from the sidelines, expressed resentment over being “left out of the fray” after the release of GPT-4 and Google’s rival chatbot Bard, according to the biography. 

In July, the tech billionaire launched xAI, his own AI venture, with a mission to “understand the true nature of the universe,” marking a new chapter in his pursuit of AI advancement.

Why It’s Important: Earlier this year, Musk signed an “open letter” calling for a pause on training systems exceeding OpenAI’s GPT-4. Additionally, he targeted Microsoft and OpenAI’s collaboration time and again. 

Musk was previously slammed by his fellow “PayPal Mafia” member and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman for signing the open letter but simultaneously making preparations to launch his own AI venture. 

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