Tag: X

Elon Musk Launches Hostile Takeover Of OpenAI With Sh12.5 Trillion Bid

A consortium led by Elon Musk said on Monday it has offered $97.4 billion (Sh1.3 trillion) to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, another salvo in the billionaire’s fight to block the artificial intelligence startup from transitioning to a for-profit firm.

Musk’s bid is likely to ratchet up longstanding tensions with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the future of the ChatGPT maker at the heart of a boom in generative AI technology. Altman on Monday promptly posted on X: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion (Sh1.3 trillion) if you want.”

Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit, but left before the company took off. He founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of tech and social media company X, is a close ally of President Donald Trump. He spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect Trump, and leads the Department of Government Efficiency, a new arm of the White House tasked with radically shrinking the federal bureaucracy. Musk recently criticized a $500 billion (Sh 64.3 trillion) OpenAI-led project announced by Trump at the White House.

OpenAI is now trying to transition into a for-profit from a nonprofit entity, which it says is required to secure the capital needed for developing the best AI models.

Musk sued Altman and others in August last year, claiming they violated contract provisions by putting profit ahead of the public good in the push to advance AI. In November, he asked a US district judge for a preliminary injunction blocking OpenAI from converting to a for-profit structure.

Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman says the founders originally approached him to fund a nonprofit focused on developing AI to benefit humanity, but that it was now focused on making money.

“It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” Musk said in a statement on Monday. “We will make sure that happens.”

Altman told staff in a message that the company’s board of directors intends to make clear it has no interest in Musk’s “supposed bid“, according to a report by The Information on Monday.

Musk and OpenAI backer Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The consortium led by Musk includes his AI startup xAI, Baron Capital Group, Emanuel Capital and others.

xAI could merge with OpenAI following a deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported Musk’s offer earlier on Monday. xAI recently raised $6 billion from investors at a valuation of $40 billion, sources have told Reuters.

‘Throwing a wrench’

“This (bid) is definitely throwing a wrench in things,” said Jonathan Macey, a Yale Law School professor specializing in corporate governance.

“The nonprofit is supposed to take money to do whatever good deeds, and if OpenAI prefers to sell it to somebody else for less money, it’s a concern for protecting the interests of the beneficiaries of the not-for-profit.”

OpenAI was valued at $157 billion (Sh20.2 trillion) in its last funding round, cementing its status as one of the most valuable private companies in the world. SoftBank Group is in talks to lead a funding round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of $300 billion (Sh38.6 trillion), including the new funds, Reuters reported in January.

Aside from any antitrust implications, a deal this size would need Musk and his consortium to raise enormous funds.

Musk’s stock in Tesla is valued at roughly $165 billion (Sh21.2 trillion), according to LSEG data, but his leverage with banks is likely to be thin after his $44 billion buyout of X, which was then called Twitter, in 2022.

To finance such a bid, Musk could sell part of his stake in Tesla or take a loan against his stake, or use his stake in rocket company SpaceX that is worth tens of billions of dollars as collateral, according to an uninvolved investment banker, who requested anonymity.

“Musk’s offer to buy OpenAI’s nonprofit should significantly complicate OpenAI’s current fundraising and the process of converting into a for-profit corporation,” said Gil Luria, analyst at D.A. Davidson.

“The offer seems to be backed by more credible investors … OpenAI may not be able to ignore it. It will be the fiduciary responsibility of OpenAI’s board to decide whether this is a better offer, which could call into question the offer from SoftBank.”

(Reuters)

February 11, 2025
Elon Musk Is Removing The Block Feature On X / Twitter

Elon Musk confirms that X will now allow users to see posts from people who have blocked them on X.

Updated during a recent reply, Musk stated that the “block function will block that account from engaging with, but not block seeing, public posts.”

This feature change further opens up the X platform to more visibility with what users can consume even from blocked accounts.

Previously, when a user was blocked on X by another user, they were met with the “You’re blocked” message.

This message meant that the user in question was restricted from viewing any of the other user’s posts, replies, media, or profile details.

The block feature took away access to everything from the user blocked online. However, this will no longer be the case.

X Blocked users will still see content on your page

However, the new change on how blocking someone on X means, that blocked users will still be able to see the public content of the accounts that blocked them.

The twist with the new adjustment is that, although blocked users will view publicly shared content from the blocking account, they won’t be able to engage with it.

Nevertheless, according to an unverified source at X, the change is based on the idea that blocked users could still view posts using another account.

Alternatively, one could also access content from a blocked account while logged off the platform.

According to the source, the best way to work around this loophole was to allow users to still view content from an account a user is blocked from.

Musk has always hated the block feature

It is not news that Elon Musk is not a huge fan of the block feature which he viewed as making less to no sense.

Musk has gone on to express his opposition to the block feature in the past, stating that it “makes no sense.”

Nevertheless, he has suggested that the block feature should be replaced by a “stronger form of mute.”

However, it is unclear as to what option meets his criteria of a “stronger form of mute” other than the block feature.

September 24, 2024
Elon Musk Announces All X Users To Pay A Monthly Fee To Stay On The Platform

Elon Musk discussed his plans for Twitter, now called X, on Monday during a livestreamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Among other things, Musk said the social network is “moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system” in order to combat “vast armies of bots.”

Musk did not say how much a new plan would cost users of the social network, or what other features would or would not be included with payment at the lowest tier.

During the livestream, Musk also divulged some new metrics from X, saying it now has 550 million “monthly users,” who generate 100 million to 200 million posts per day.

Musk did not disclose how many of the company’s monthly users are authentic, versus bots. He also did not make an apples-to-apples comparison with metrics previously used by Twitter. In May 2022, before Musk’s takeover, Twitter reported that it had “average monetizable daily active usage” of 229 million.

The discussion with Netanyahu was meant to focus on theoretical risks of artificial intelligence technology, and how AI should potentially be regulated. However, Musk also used it to dispute the perception that his social network tolerates hate speech and antisemitism.

The meeting followed widespread criticism of Musk by civil rights groups over his amplification of bigotry on his social network, including antisemitic accounts, content and conspiracies.

In recent weeks, Musk has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish-led organization, alleging that they tried to “kill” his social network. Musk has blamed the ADL, rather than his own business decisions, for a 60% drop in revenue at X and said he had “no choice” but to file a defamation lawsuit against the group.

Musk and X Corp. have not yet filed any known lawsuit against the ADL, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Before meeting with Netanyahu, Musk also accused George Soros’ foundation of wanting to “destroy” Western civilization. The Hungarian-American Jewish philanthropist is the founder of Open Society Foundations, which donates to a variety of civil society groups, and he is the subject of several antisemitic conspiracy theories.

On his social media platform, Musk has repeatedly disparaged transgender people, federal regulators, politicians, journalists, whistleblowers, critics of his companies, and short sellers. Despite that history, Musk told Netanyahu on Monday, “I’m sort of against attacking any group, you know. Doesn’t matter who it is.” Referring to his goal of humanity becoming “a spacefaring civilization,” he said, “We can’t do that if there’s a lot of infighting and, you know, hatred and negativity.”

After acquiring Twitter for around $44 billion in late October, Musk implemented massive staff cuts and sweeping changes to the platform. He continues to run the company as its largest shareholder, chief technical officer and executive chairman, and also is the CEO of automaker Tesla and aerospace company SpaceX.

Among other changes, he gave “amnesty” to previously suspended accounts — a move that online safety and hate speech experts strongly criticized. Under his management, the platform restored the account of former President Donald Trump, who was previously banned by Twitter for encouraging the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. Musk’s Twitter also restored the personal accounts of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and neo-Nazi website founder Andrew Anglin.

Musk also eliminated Twitter’s “blue check” system of verification, which helped users to identify authentic accounts belonging to public figures including celebrities, elected officials, scientists, authors, leaders in business and education, working journalists and others.

Under the social network’s current system, users who pay a fee can show a blue subscriber badge next to their names. Those who pay see their posts prioritized in other users’ feeds. Those who don’t pay are relegated to lower levels of amplification for their posts or may see lower engagement on the platform. On Monday, Musk repeated his belief that turning users into paid subscribers would make it cumbersome and unaffordable to deploy bots on the platform.

X is trying to obtain licenses to become a money transmitter across the U.S. currently. According to public records, it has already obtained permission to do so in 8 states.

September 19, 2023
Musk Offers To Pay Legal Fee For Any X User Who Gets In Trouble At Work Over X Posts

Elon Musk on Saturday said his social media company X would provide monetary legal aid to users who face blowback from their bosses over posts on the platform.

Users, including many celebrities and others in the public eye, have occasionally found themselves in hot water with their employers over controversial things they have posted, liked, or retweeted on the platform, which was formerly known as Twitter.

“If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill,” he wrote on the site.

“No limit. Please let us know.”

Musk gave no details on how users could claim their money.

Since the tycoon bought the social media platform for $44 billion last October, its advertising business has collapsed, in part because of its looser approach to blocking hate speech, and the return of previously banned far-right accounts.

Musk has repeatedly cited a desire for free speech as motivating his changes, and lashed out at what he sees as the threat posed to free expression by changing cultural sensitivities.

According to nonprofit organisation the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), hate speech has flourished at the platform.

X has disputed the findings and is suing the CCDH.

In December, Musk reinstated former US president Donald Trump’s Twitter account, although Trump has yet to return to the platform.

The ex-president was banned from Twitter in early 2021 for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by a group of his supporters seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

X recently reinstated rapper and designer Kanye West around eight months after his account was suspended, according to media reports.

Last fall, West, who now goes professionally by Ye, posted an image that appeared to show a swastika interlaced with a Star of David, and Musk suspended the artist from the platform. (AFP)

August 6, 2023