Elon Musks Oval Office Talk Dispels Doubts About His Power

ImageWe’ve got some more thoughts on Elon Musk’s $97 billion hostile bid for Sam Altman’s OpenAI, which, we’re told, still hasn’t been delivered to anyone at OpenAI.Assuming an offer does show up, from a legal standpoint it’s actually dead on arrival.That’s because the board of OpenAI has no legal fiduciary duty to maximize investor returns in the for-profit subsidiary.

The only duty the board has is to the charter of the organization, which includes in its mission: “to avoid enabling uses of A.I.or A.G.I.

that harm humanity or unduly concentrate power.” It can decide whether an acquirer of its assets would fulfill that mission.So on that score alone, it could simply say no to Musk, as Altman told him in a post on X.But there’s another play Musk is making: to not-so-subtly persuade the attorneys general of California (where OpenAI is based) and Delaware (where OpenAI is incorporated) to block OpenAI from turning its subsidiary into a for-profit company.Musk is already suing to do just that — and last week a judge suggested the case was a “stretch.” His offer could be a mechanism to force an attorney general to question whatever valuation the nonprofit arm of OpenAI receives for the for-profit entity.

Part of the A.G.’s role is to make sure that nonprofits get “fair value” for their assets.But Musk’s history of lawsuits against OpenAI and his public comments undermine the credibility of using his bid as a valuation metric.And given his tortured relationship with the states of California and of Delaware (he moved Tesla’s headquarters to Austin and reincorporated in Texas), it seems unlikely he will get a sympathetic ear.

“Maximally transparent” Last week, President Trump breezily dismissed a Time magazine cover depicting Elon Musk sitting behind the Resolute Desk.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you ar...