Quick overview

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Elon Musk demands that OpenAI Inc. and Microsoft compensate him between $79 billion and $134 billion in damages for alleging that the generative AI company deceived him by abandoning its nonprofit roots and teaming up with the software giant. A day after a federal judge rejected OpenAI and Microsoft’s latest effort to avoid a jury trial scheduled for late April in Oakland, California,

 

 

Musk’s lawyer outlined the damages request in a court filing on Friday. Musk is entitled to a share of OpenAI’s current $500 billion valuation because he was defrauded of the $38 million in seed money he invested when he helped found the company in 2015.

“The wrongful gains that OpenAI and Microsoft have earned, which Mr. Musk is now entitled to recover, are far larger than the gains an early investor in a startup might realize, potentially many times greater than the initial investment.”

Musk left OpenAI’s board in 2018, started his own AI company in 2023, and entered a legal dispute with Sam Altman in 2024 over Altman’s plans to run OpenAI as a for-profit business. Microsoft and OpenAI have denied his claims. “We look forward to demonstrating this at trial, as Mr. Musk’s lawsuit remains baseless and part of his ongoing pattern of harassment,” OpenAI stated.

“The purpose of this most recent insignificant demand is to continue this harassment campaign.” OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, announced its reorganization in October. In a move to keep the nonprofit arm in charge of its for-profit activities, it revealed it had granted a 27 percent ownership stake to its longtime supporter, Microsoft. Altman has condemned Musk’s lawsuit challenging OpenAI’s reorganization as using the legal system as a weapon to hinder a competitor.