How OpenAI Stayed Independent: Musk's 2017 Takeover Bid and What Followed

In fall 2017, Elon Musk demanded majority control and the CEO role at OpenAI's planned for-profit division. OpenAI declined, concerned it would compromise their mission. That refusal mattered: had Musk prevailed, OpenAI's research would have likely served Tesla and SpaceX instead. Instead, the company followed its own path—and built the GPT models that now lead the generative AI market.