This maxim guides potentially trillions of dollars of capital, investor glee and pain, and the clout of OpenAI boss Sam Altman and his nemesis Elon Musk. Their years-long feud cranked up on Monday, when the Tesla (TSLA.

OpenAI says its board of directors has 'unanimously' rejected billionaire Elon Musk's offer to buy the nonprofit that effectively governs OpenAI.

Last March, Musk filed a lawsuit claiming OpenAI, a global leader in artificial intelligence innovation which has developed the ChatGPT chatbot, DALL-E image generator and other advanced AI-driven tools, breached promises made in its founding documents and prioritizes profit motive over serving the public good.