Musk seeks up to $134 billion in damages over his role in founding OpenAI

World’s richest person and tech mogul, Elon Musk, is now pursuing damages estimated between $79 billion and $134 billion from OpenAI Inc. and Microsoft, alleging that OpenAI misled him, reports Bloomberg.

This relates to Musk’s role as one of a handful of founders who started the company back in 2015. His attorney argues that Musk is entitled to a share of OpenAI’s current $500 billion valuation after being deceived out of the $38 million he contributed as seed funding for the AI giant.

Naturally, OpenAI and its biggest backer, Microsoft, rejected Musk’s accusations, describing the lawsuit as unfounded. They have characterized Musk’s damages demand as unserious and intended to harass.

The main argument for Musk’s claims is that the ChatGPT maker has abandoned its nonprofit mission and entered into a partnership with Microsoft. His legal team outlined the damages request in a court filing on Friday, one day after a federal judge declined a final attempt by OpenAI and Microsoft to avoid a jury trial scheduled for late April.

The filing relies on calculations by financial economist C. Paul Wazzan, an expert witness, who concluded that Musk is entitled to a portion of OpenAI’s estimated $500 billion valuation. The argument centers on the claim that Musk was defrauded of the $38 million he donated when he helped establish OpenAI as a non-profit in 2015. For years now, OpenAI has been trying hard to shed its nonprofit roots and unorthodox structure to become a profit-seeking entity. OpenAI and Microsoft have disputed both the calculations and their underlying assumptions.

In the filing, Musk’s lawyer Steven Molo wrote that, similar to an early-stage startup investor who may see returns far exceeding an initial investment, the alleged wrongful gains earned by OpenAI and Microsoft are vastly larger than Musk’s original contributions and should be returned to him.

Musk stepped down from OpenAI’s board in 2018. Later, in 2023, he launched his own artificial intelligence company and, in 2024, began legal action against Sam Altman over plans to operate OpenAI as a for-profit entity. OpenAI and Microsoft have consistently denied Musk’s claims.

OpenAI said in a statement that Musk’s lawsuit remains baseless and part of a broader pattern of harassment, adding that it looks forward to proving this at trial. The company said the latest damages demand was designed solely to advance that campaign.

Altman has criticized Musk’s legal challenges to OpenAI on multiple occasions, calling the recent one an attempt to weaponize the legal system to hinder a competitor. OpenAI has also cautioned investors that Musk may continue to make attention-grabbing allegations as the case approaches trial.

Back in October, OpenAI made progress in its controversial transformation, announcing a restructuring plan that stated Microsoft had received a 27% ownership stake while the nonprofit arm retained control over the for-profit operations.

According to the court filing, Wazzan calculated the damages by factoring in Musk’s financial input as well as non-monetary contributions, such as technical guidance and business advice. He estimated the alleged wrongful gains at between $65.50 billion and $109.43 billion for OpenAI and between $13.30 billion and $25.06 billion for Microsoft.