Is Elon Musk buying OpenAI - as Tesla CEO launches $97bn bid to buy maker of ChatGPT, what has the billionaire said?

The Tesla CEO co-founded OpenAI with its current chief executive Sam Altman in 2015, but left before the company took off after it released ChatGPT in late 2022. OpenAI was initially launched as a non-profit organisation but it is currently transitioning to a for-profit model - which it says it needs to do so it can afford to develop the best AI models.

Mr Musk disagrees with the move and said in a press release about the bid: "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. We will make sure that happens."

The offer is being backed by Mr Musk's rival artificial intelligence company xAI, which could merge with OpenAI following a deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the bid. The offer relates only to the non-profit that controls the company rather than the whole OpenAI operation.

Musk’s offer appears to have escalated longstanding tensions with his former colleague Mr Altman, who posted on X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Mr Musk bought Twitter, now called X, for $44bn (£38bn) in 2022.

The pair publicly fell out when Mr Musk resigned from the OpenAI board in 2018. They are already embroiled in a lawsuit as Mr Musk sued both OpenAI and Mr Altman last year, accusing them of breaching a contract by pivoting towards profit, arguing OpenAI was going back on its pledge to develop AI carefully and make it freely available. Recently a California federal district judge made it clear that a courtroom fight over the future of OpenAI could last well into 2027.