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Elon Musk-led investors offer $97.4 billion for nonprofit controlling OpenAI

MINISTÉRIO DAS COMUNICAÇÕES, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

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A group of investors led by Elon Musk has offered $97.4 billion to acquire the nonprofit controlling OpenAI. 

The initial report about the Musk-led investors’ initiative was reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Key Details:

  • Musk attorney Marc Toberoff submitted the unsolicited offer for all of the nonprofit’s assets to OpenAI’s board on Monday.
  • The bid is backed by Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, as well as other investors such as Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, Vy Capital, and 8VC. Ari Emanuel of Endeavor is also backing the offer through an investment fund, the WSJ noted.
  • “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,” Musk noted in a statement provided by Toberoff.
  • Toberoff also noted that Musk and his fellow investors are ready to match or exceed any bids that challenge their $97.4 billion offer.
  • “If Sam Altman and the present OpenAI Inc. Board of Directors are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time,” he noted.

OpenAI’s Response:

  • As per a report from The Information, OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman reportedly informed told OpenAI staff that the company’s board of directors is not interested in Musk’s bid.
  • In a post on X, Altman also responded to Musk and the other investors’ offer. “No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” Altman wrote in a post on X.
  • Altman’s post received a reply from Musk, who wrote “Swindler.”
  • Altman is steering OpenAI towards becoming a traditional company, a process that includes spinning out the company’s nonprofit. OpenAI’s nonprofit would own equity in the new for-profit.
  • As noted by WSJ, Musk and the other investors’ $97.4 billion could result in the nonprofit ending up with a large and possibly controlling stake in the for-profit OpenAI.

Background and Conflict:

  • OpenAI was founded by Musk, Altman, and several other notable AI players in 2015 as a nonprofit. Musk ultimately left in 2019.
  • Under Altman’s leadership, OpenAI has created a for-profit subsidiary, which received backing from companies like Microsoft.
  • Musk has filed lawsuits against OpenAI, alleging it abandoned its nonprofit mission. 
  • He has also urged California and Delaware authorities to ensure a fair valuation of OpenAI’s nonprofit’s assets.

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk predicts Grok will start to challenge Hollywood by the end of 2026

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Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

In a bold declaration on X, xAI CEO Elon Musk announced that its model will be capable of creating full movies by the end of the year. Quoting an xAI post showcasing a stunning AI-generated trailer for Homer’s The Odyssey, Musk simply stated: “Full movies by the end of the year.”

The quoted video, created entirely with the newly released Grok Imagine Video 1.5, demonstrates the rapid strides in AI video generation. Crafted by creator David Thompson, the 2-minute-plus trailer reimagines the ancient epic in the style of a 1970s classical Hollywood blockbuster. It features 36 meticulously consistent shots that form a cohesive narrative world.

Its realistic nature is truly mind-blowing, and it’s pretty amazing to think that it cool to think it could create an entire movie soon.

The trailer reimagines The Odyssey as a whole, and opens with a concept board outlining the vision: a retelling of the story using 35mm film aesthetics, classical framing, and other elements.

There are a handful of things that truly outline Grok’s capabilities:

  • Scale and Physics: A bloodied Spartan helmet rests on a sandy battlefield amid smoke, marching armies, and flocks of birds. Horses gallop, chariots charge, and warriors clash with believable weight and motion.
  • Emotional Depth and Dialogue: Close-ups capture intense expressions, as characters deliver lines like a warrior’s grief-stricken speech on a rocking ship.
  • Cinematic Workflow: It’s hard to believe AI created this trailer, as editing and suspense are clearly detailed in this trailer

Now, why is this a big deal? AI has been a real threat to the way movies have been made over the past several decades. It’s no secret that the various AI platforms out there are becoming more capable, but Musk has said that he believes things would be “watchable” by the end of this year, and by the end of 2027, Grok would be able to create “really good” movies.

There are several issues that remain, most notably the ability to remain cohesive throughout the length of a film, energy requirements, copyright questions for training data, and artistic intent. Hollywood has created some of the greatest cinematic masterpieces over the past 100 years, but 2026 could be the year AI not only assists but also independently authors cinema.

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The Boring Company just doubled its tunneling power in Nashville

The Boring Company’s Prufrock MB2 is commissioned and ready to mine beneath Nashville’s streets.

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The Boring Company’s second tunnel boring machine, Prufrock MB2, is officially ready to dig in Nashville. The company confirmed the news on X, posting: “Prufrock-MB2 is ready to mine in Nashville! MB2 commissioning is complete, including the brief 11 rpm rotation shown here. Will MB2 catch up to MB1, who had quite the head start? And Prufrock-MB3 ships in August!”

MB2 arrives with meaningful improvements over its predecessor. Lessons learned from the launch and operation of MB1 have already been applied to MB2 to improve efficiency and prepare the machine for launch.

Traditional tunnel boring machines operate in a stop-and-go cycle, digging roughly five feet, halt, erect precast concrete segments to line the tunnel wall, then resume. That repeated interruption is one of the main reasons conventional tunneling is slow and expensive. Prufrock is designed to install the tunnel liner simultaneously with mining, eliminating the need to stop every five feet. The machine also skips the need for excavated launch pits. Prufrock arrives on a truck, tilts down, and launches into the ground within 24 hours. And when the tunnel is complete, it emerges from the ground and drives to its next launch site on a trailer, eliminating the need for expensive cranes or pit excavation. The machine is also fully electric and runs with zero people in the tunnel during normal operations, controlled remotely from a surface operations center.

It won’t be long before we hear of another major update on The Boring Company’s Music City Loop project – a planned underground transit network beneath Nashville that would move passengers in electric vehicles through a series of tunnels at highway speeds, and bypassing surface traffic entirely. Nashville was selected in part because of its strong rock conditions that suits the Prufrock machines well, and relatively less regulatory hurdles.

Progress has been steady on multiple fronts. All 37 permits and approvals required ahead of tunneling have been obtained, out of 45 total. Key wins include a fully executed TDOT tunnel permit authorizing 25 miles of tunnel, unanimous airport authority approval for a Nashville International Airport station, and the city’s first residential station agreement serving downtown tower residents.

With MB1 already tunneling, MB2 now commissioned, and MB3 shipping in August, Nashville is becoming something of a live proving ground for scaled tunnel boring. The broader ambition is not limited to one city. The Boring Company’s stated goal is to make underground transportation a practical alternative to surface roads across major metro areas. Nashville is one of many cities, including a successful Las Vegas tunnel system, where that idea is being put to the test at real speed.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk just put a $1 Trillion revenue number on SpaceX

SpaceX surged 19% on its first trading day as Musk projected $1 trillion revenue by 2030.

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Rendering of a colonized Mars by way of SpaceX

Just days after SpaceX stock pushed its market cap past $2 trillion on its first trading session, closing at $160.95, a 19% gain on the $135 IPO price, Elon Musk posted his own revenue projection on X that went well beyond anything Wall Street modeled. “I think SpaceX might be able to reach approximately $1T revenue in 2030,” Musk wrote, then followed up: “And I would be surprised if revenue is not greater than $1T in 2031.” That forecast sits roughly three times above the most bullish institutional estimate on the table.

Morgan Stanley, one of the lead underwriters, projects SpaceX revenue of $160 billion in 2028, $330 billion in 2030, and $3.4 trillion by 2040, with adjusted EBITDA projected to exceed $2.7 trillion at that point. Reaching those numbers from SpaceX’s $18.7 billion in 2025 revenue requires a compound annual growth rate of roughly 42%, which would outpace even Amazon’s fastest growth era. Morgan Stanley’s model places AI infrastructure as the heaviest revenue driver, projecting $190 billion from SpaceX’s AI business alone by 2030. That figure is anchored to xAI’s Grok platform and the Colossus supercomputer following the earlier merger.

Elon Musk launches TERAFAB: The $25B Tesla-SpaceXAI chip factory that will rewire the AI industry

The government revenue pipeline provides a more predictable foundation under those projections. As we have previously reported, SpaceX holds at least $22 billion in cumulative federal contracts across NASA, the Space Force, the NRO, and the Space Development Agency, with 52 active contracts carrying $11.8 billion in remaining value. The NASA Artemis Human Landing System contract alone is valued at $4.04 billion, covering a second crewed lunar landing demonstration targeted for the Artemis IV mission. SpaceX is also a frontrunner for the Golden Dome missile defense shield, and the FAA has approved up to 44 Starship launches from LC-39A in 2026, setting the stage for Starship to become the backbone of both commercial and government heavy lift. Whether Musk’s $1 trillion number proves visionary or simply optimistic, the infrastructure to get there is already being funded.

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