OpenAI has said that Elon Musk in 2017 wanted it to become a for-profit organization as a proposed new structure.

This comes as Musk made his fourth attempt in less than twelve months “to reframe his claims” against OpenAI.

“When he didn’t get majority equity and full control, he walked away and told us we would fail,” it said in Friday’s blog post.

A timeline of events reveals Elon Musk’s initial involvement with the organization and his departure.

OpenAI started as a nonprofit in November 2015, “which Elon questioned.” By fall 2017, Musk wanted majority equity, “absolute control,” and become the CEO of the for-profit.

OpenAI declined the offer, citing potential conflicts with its mission.

In early 2018, Musk suggested merging OpenAI with Tesla. However, by February, he had stepped down as co-chair of OpenAI. Later that year, Musk urged OpenAI to secure significant funding.

In 2019, the organization adopted a capped-profit model under the name OpenAI LP.

In March 2023, Musk launched an AI company called xAI to compete with OpenAI.

Recent OpenAI developments