Musk Seeks Up to $134 Billion Damages From OpenAI, Microsoft

Elon Musk is suing OpenAI Inc. amid allegations that the prolific AI company defrauded him by abandoning its nonprofit roots and partnering with the software giant. and wants Microsoft to pay him between $79 billion and $134 billion in damages.

Musk’s lawyer detailed his request for damages in a court filing Friday, a day after a federal judge rejected OpenAI and Microsoft’s latest bid to avoid a late-April jury trial in Oakland, California.

Citing calculations by financial economist expert witness C. Paul Wazzan, the filing states that Musk is entitled to a portion of OpenAI’s current $500 billion valuation after being defrauded of $38 million in seed money he donated to OpenAI while helping launch the startup in 2015. OpenAI and Microsoft later disputed the calculations.

“Just as the initial investor in a start-up company can reap much larger amounts of returns than the investor’s initial investment, the ill-gotten gains that OpenAI and Microsoft have earned, which Mr. Musk now has the right to forego, are far greater than Mr. Musk’s initial contributions,” wrote Musk attorney Steven Molo.

Musk left OpenAI’s board in 2018, founded his own AI company in 2023, and began a court battle with Sam Altman in 2024 over OpenAI’s co-founder and chief executive officer’s plans to operate the company as a for-profit business. OpenAI and Microsoft denied his claims.

“Mr. Musk’s lawsuit remains unfounded and part of an ongoing pattern of harassment, and we look forward to demonstrating this at trial,” OpenAI said in a statement. “This latest frivolous request only aims to further this campaign of harassment.”

Altman condemned Musk’s lawsuit challenging OpenAI’s restructuring as the weaponization of the legal system to slow down a rival. OpenAI warned investors to expect Musk to make eye-catching claims as the legal fight heads to court.

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, announced its restructuring in October. At the time, it said it was giving a 27% ownership stake to longtime backer Microsoft as part of a transition that would keep control of the for-profit operations of the startup’s nonprofit arm.

According to the filing, expert witness Wazzan calculated the damages claim by combining Musk’s financial and non-monetary contributions to OpenAI, including technical and business advice. It calculated that ill-gotten gains totaled $65.50 billion to $109.43 billion for OpenAI and $13.30 billion to $25.06 billion for Microsoft.

Musk’s filing also states that he plans to seek punitive damages and possibly an injunction not specified in the filing.

In a response filed with the court early Saturday, OpenAI and Microsoft attacked Wazzan’s conclusions and asked that he not be allowed to repeat them at the hearing. Lawyers for the companies said Musk wanted 2,900 times his investment in the venture.

“Wazzan’s methodology is fabricated; its results are unverifiable; its approach is unprecedented and its proposed outcome—the transfer of billions of dollars from a nonprofit to a donor-turned competitor—is seemingly implausible,” the companies’ lawyers wrote.

With help from Shirin Ghaffary and Brody Ford.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to the text.