During his virtual appearance at the Ron Baron’s Baron Capital Conference, Elon Musk briefly spoke about a prominent company he co-founded in 2015 – OpenAI. The session was hosted by Ron Baron, the Chairman, CEO and Founder of Baron Capital, who holds strong conviction in Musk’s endeavors as an entrepreneur in the tech industry.
In the course of the interview, Musk spoke about his ambitions pertaining to research and development in AI technology. In this context, he spoke of the reason why he was part of the founding of OpenAI. Emerging from factors that were rooted in ethics, accessibility and non-profitability, Musk’s commitment towards OpenAI was evident in the panel session from the conference.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shares reason behind founding OpenAI
Elon Musk appeared as a guest speaker at Ron Baron’s Baron Capital Conference on November 14. Hosted by Ron Baron himself, the Tesla CEO spoke on various topics, ranging from robotics, AI technology, sustainability, as well as his choice of having a humble accommodation for himself. During the interview, Musk shared how the idea of ChatGPT came to him.
BREAKING: Elon Musk shares how and why he started OpenAI:
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) November 14, 2025
"The reason I founded OpenAI was because I was concerned, based on my conversations with Larry Page, that he was not sufficiently concerned about the dangers of AI. At my birthday party, he, in front of a large group of… pic.twitter.com/eYppPlSwih
He said, “The reason I founded OpenAI was because I was concerned, based on my conversations with Larry Page, that he was not sufficiently concerned about the dangers of AI.” Musk further elaborated on the difference of opinion he had with Page on the urgency of addressing the challenged to humanity by AI. With this, he added, “So I thought, what’s the opposite of Google? It would be an open source nonprofit, and that’s where the word open, in OpenAI comes from. It means open source.“
In addition, Elon Musk stated that he turned down the offer of holding shares of a company like OpenAI that was supposed to be free to access by everyone. He said, “I felt like what are the shares, and why like nonprofits supposed to have shares? Nonprofits are not supposed to be self enrichment, so that’s why I turned on the offer of shares.“
Related: Tesla CEO Elon Musk Makes Brutally Honest Claim About Solar Electricity
Social media users react to Elon Musk’s vision of OpenAI
A clip of Elon Musk’s interview by Ron Baron, shared by X user @cb_doge, gained over 175k views on the social media platform since it went live on November 15. The video put in focus Musk’s explanation of why he cofounded OpenAI in 2015.
Users took to the comments to share their reactions and views on the Tesla CEO’s vision of OpenAI. Most users appreciated Musk’s innovative thinking and how it led to the creation of the brand itself.
Cool! Turning harsh criticism into opportunity for innovation. That's rare!
— Jedi on Red Planet (@JededeahY) November 15, 2025
Some netizens also observed how Musk’s vision of an open-source AI model was eventually deemed as a threat to tech giants. This also hints at OpenAI’s 180 degree turn towards becoming a for-profit company.
This adds a lot of context to how OpenAI started. Whatever people think of Elon, it’s clear he was motivated by concerns about AI direction and wanted a counterweight to Google. The open-source, nonprofit vision makes the current situation even more complicated.
— Adal (@adalraq) November 15, 2025
Musk departed from the board in 2018 due to differences over how OpenAI would grow in the years to come, as well as the possibility of the situation resulting in a conflict of interest with the AI development at Tesla. Nevertheless, his explanation of why he was part of the founding of OpenAI does seem to provide adequate clarity on the initial vision the idea of the company was conceived.
Also Read: All the Details About Elon Musk’s $1 Trillion Pay Package!
