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Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

reuters.com

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Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#691

Post by chrisco255 »

bjackman wrote: post #186
kennethologist wrote: post #115

WSJ Full Article: https://archive.is/Uygax

This includes the actually interesting bit: > One of the thorniest questions in the conversion has been how the nonprofit will be valued. Musk’s bid sets a high bar and may mean that he, or whoever runs the nonprofit, would end up with a large and possibly controlling stake in the new OpenAI. So this is a play to mess with the restructuring? Why aren't the news stories exploring this angle? It's very annoying that th…

Intelligent and honest journalists are as rare as unicorns.

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#692

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #540
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On one hand, I used to look at these super successful people with a pretty heavy dose of envy. Now I honestly don't, because I find their behavior reprehensible and disgusting, and just so childishly stupid. Granted, I'm fortunate enough that I really don't want for material goods (that's also because I realized I don't need very much), so I might feel differently if I had to slave away at some job I hated. Being a "…

Sam Harris has some of the best, arguably more constructive, critiques of Elon. I guess they used to be some degree of friendly with each other, exchanging text messages and such, but that has since ended. I’ve generally found his take on things fairly insightful and worth hearing out. I know some people can’t stand him, and I don’t agree with him about everything, but I think it leaves you with a decent sense of wha…

I'll have to find the commentary by Sam Harris, I think it'd be interesting. I thought this post by Philip Low, founder of NeuroVigil, a Neuralink competitor, was very insightful and interesting: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7288439...

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#693

Post by slavik81 »

verve_rat wrote: post #670
amazingamazing wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

presidents can't pardon state crimes

Although... 4D chess move, if a state starts prosecution against Musk, get the DoJ to do it first and then pardon him after the fact. Double jeopardy would stop the state from continuing with the prosecution, and the pardon means no consequences. I hate that I consider this an actually possibly.

You can be tried by both the state and the federal government for the same conduct, and it is not double jeopardy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamble_v._United_States

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#694

Post by manquer »

notatoad wrote: post #672
TheAlchemist wrote: post #155

"The bid is being backed by Musk's AI company xAI, which could merge with OpenAI following a deal, according to the Wall Street Journal which first reported Musk's offer earlier on Monday." xAI is not making any money - it's a money furnace, so what does it mean the bid is backed by xAI ? The leverage and 'creativity' in the US is off the charts. Dotcom bubble starts to look reasonable.

as i underestand it, xAI is essentially Elon's personal piggybank, and how he funnels money from his other companies back to himself. Tesla is public and Twitter is co-owned by a whole bunch of other billionaires, but xAI is just Elon.

Twitter owns some shares in xAI . This has made the value of twitter debt improve from 55-60 cents to as high as 90 cents on the dollar according to some reports.

While other factors may be involved, that debt is shopped around assuming there are bankable assets in that DC and GPUs which are quite valuable even if the either company goes sideways.

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#695

Post by CamperBob2 »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #463
yodsanklai wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "financial terrorist" As a thought experiment, I like to wonder what would be the maximal amount of damage to humanity an extremely wealthy person could do entirely legally. Or if not damage, just trolling. For instance, writing X on the moon or something like that.

I mean, you could invent tetraethyl gasoline and CFCs.... you don't have to be super wealthy for that, but getting the world to adopt them in horribly harmful ways certainly takes capital.

CFCs are easily a net win, as they made refrigeration (and consequently food preservation) practical, cheap and safe.

TEL, though, yeeeeah... that was a bad move.

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#697

Post by [deleted] »

guybedo wrote: post #498
alpha_squared wrote: post #102

It feels like Musk is single-handedly making a great case for why unlimited accumulation of wealth is a bad idea. It's pretty colorful language, but my mind immediately jumps to "financial terrorist". He's using his enormous amount of wealth and influence as a weapon to bludgeon anyone and anything in his way.

I don't get what is "financial terrorism" here: He's making an offer to buy something at twice the price of the other offer on the table. I'm not sure it'd be a good deal for Musk but it looks like a good deal for the seller.

[deleted]

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#698

Post by rlt »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #668
rlt wrote: post #659

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I’m pretty sure this was a financial take. Musk and his companies didn’t become immune to criticism when he started meddling in US politics. And by any measure, Tesla stock is crazy overvalued.

[flagged]

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#699

Post by blackeyeblitzar »

zfg wrote: post #468
ak_111 wrote: post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He single handedly also vindicated one of the most authoritarian regimes - China - in how it slapped Jack Ma as soon as he started entering politics and gaining influence beyond tech entrepreneurship.

Clearly Jack Ma should have pledged his commitment to China's core socialist values like Musk did: https://www.mediaite.com/news/elon-musk-signs-letter-pledgin... And maybe Jack Ma should also have advocated for Taiwan's submission to China like Musk did: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/08/elon-musk...

China requires that pledge for basically anyone with power or wealth. For example, they added a new law, forcing all of the AI companies in China (like DeepSeek) to uphold socialist values and all that. And TikTok, which they pretend is a separate company from ByteDance based in Singapore, forces US executives to sign a pro CCP pledge as well:

https://dailycaller.com/2025/01/14/tiktok-forced-staff-oaths...

This is why tariffs, divestment from China, and divestment of Chinese ownership in American companies or land is important. I also think it is reasonable to treat such pledges made by American residents to a foreign government as treasonous.

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#700

Post by JKCalhoun »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #536
JKCalhoun wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, it's like 12 year old boys or something. Where the adults at?

Many moved to Bluesky. Others on X try to avoid the circus created. A few may even be on Mastodon.

I kinda meant — where are the adults leading our country, running our corporations ... but I get your point too.
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