PARIS (Reuters) -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.

"I have nothing to say. I mean, it's ridiculous," Altman said on the sidelines of an AI summit in Paris.

"The company is not for sale. It's another one of his tactics to try to mess with us," he said, speaking about Musk.

A consortium led by Musk said on Monday it had offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, another salvo in the billionaire's fight to block the artificial intelligence startup from transitioning to a for-profit firm.

Later asked during his speech at the AI summit if OpenAI was up for sale, Altman repeated "no" and "we are not for sale".

Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit, but left before the company took off. He founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023.

The CEO of Tesla TSLA.O and owner of tech and social media company X, is a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.