Sam Altman is leaving no room for doubt about his views on an Elon Musk-led bid to take control of OpenAI. In a letter to OpenAI staff Monday, the CEO put the words “bid” and “deal” in scare quotes and said the startup’s board has no interest in the offer.

Sam Altman is pushing back on an unsolicited bid made by Elon Musk and a group of investors to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. The $97.4 billion bid, made by Musk's AI company, xAI, and backed by several investment firms, deepens the ongoing battle between Musk and Altman over OpenAI, which they co-founded in 2015.

The nonprofit that controls OpenAI is not for sale, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told Reuters on Tuesday when asked to comment about Elon Musk's offer to buy it.