Mashable: Musk expressed his desire on multiple occasions to transform OpenAI into a profit-driven organization under his authority or to merge it with Tesla.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, mentioned that Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, believed that the company responsible for ChatGPT would not succeed, leading him to decide to separate from it. During a conversation with podcaster Lex Fridman, Altman revealed that Musk had doubts about OpenAI's success and desired complete authority to steer it in a different direction.

A Hopeful Vision: Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s Path to Collaboration

Amid the discussions between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, there lies a heartfelt appeal for these two pioneering spirits to find common ground for collaboration. The respect Sam Altman has expressed towards Elon… pic.twitter.com/4MhhcOmVzt — Alina St. John (@AlinaStJoh34202) March 24, 2024

On the other hand, Altman and his team were determined to continue on the path that eventually shaped OpenAI. Musk also expressed his interest in enabling Tesla to pursue Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) endeavors.

As per Altman, Musk expressed his desire on multiple occasions to transform OpenAI into a profit-driven organization under his authority or to merge it with Tesla. However, we were not inclined to pursue that path, leading to his decision to depart, which we fully respect.

Furthermore, the CEO emphasized the company's unwavering dedication to its initial mission, which involves providing cutting-edge technology to individuals without any cost, thereby serving the greater public interest.

Altman stated that they do not display advertisements on their free version nor do they generate revenue through other means. They simply view it as a part of their mission to provide individuals with access to more powerful tools at no cost, encouraging them to utilize these tools.

Musk recently filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman, claiming that they violated their initial contractual obligations regarding AI. In response to Musk's legal action, OpenAI countered by stating that Musk had proposed a for-profit arrangement to advance their mission, either through a merger with Tesla or by gaining complete control.

OpenAI also refuted Elon Musk's assertions regarding his alleged donation of one hundred million dollars to the company, despite his claim that the company must make significant strides to avoid appearing hopeless in comparison to Google. According to a post by OpenAI, "Elon said we should announce an initial $1B funding commitment to OpenAI.

OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman has said that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk thought that the ChatGPT-maker company would fail and "he chose to part ways".

Read: https://t.co/NMXfFXkUhF pic.twitter.com/CTvURn8TOJ — IANS (@ians_india) March 24, 2024

In total, the non-profit has raised less than $45M from Elon and more than $90M from other donors." The shared emails from OpenAI are crucial in providing context, particularly in light of Musk's lawsuit, as they indicate that he was aware of OpenAI's intention to transition from open-source to for-profit, but abandoned the idea once he realized he would not have control over it.