OpenAI’s flip-flop will not get Elon Musk off its back

It was a timely win for Elon Musk. The world’s richest man, whose business empire has recently been dragged down by his penchant for far-right politics, has long pursued a vendetta against Sam Altman, boss of OpenAI. In recent months Mr Musk, who helped establish the artificial-intelligence (AI) lab but left in 2018, has sought to block its proposed conversion into a for-profit company, deploying various methods including an unsolicited (and unsuccessful) $97bn bid for the assets of the non-profit entity that controls it.