Elon Musk is demanding between $79 billion and $134 billion in damages from OpenAI Inc. and Microsoft, alleging that the artificial intelligence company
deceived him by abandoning its nonprofit mission and later partnering with the software giant. The claim was detailed in a court filing on Friday, a day after a US federal judge rejected OpenAI and Microsoft’s final attempt to avoid a jury trial, which is now scheduled for late April in Oakland, California. According to the filing, Musk argues that he is entitled to a substantial share of OpenAI’s estimated $500 billion valuation after being “defrauded” of the $38 million in seed funding he contributed when he helped found the organization in 2015. The damages estimate is based on calculations by financial economist C. Paul Wazzan, an expert witness retained by Musk. OpenAI and Microsoft have strongly disputed both the figures and the underlying methodology, reported Bloomberg. Musk’s lawyer, Steven Molo, wrote that just as early startup investors often see returns far exceeding their initial contributions, the alleged wrongful gains accrued by OpenAI and Microsoft are vastly larger than Musk’s original investment and should now be disgorged to him. Musk left OpenAI’s board in 2018, launched his own AI company in 2023, and began legal action in 2024 against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, challenging plans to operate the organization as a for-profit entity. OpenAI and Microsoft have consistently denied Musk’s allegations. In a statement, OpenAI said the lawsuit is “baseless” and part of a pattern of harassment, adding that the latest damages demand is designed to intensify that campaign ahead of trial. OpenAI has also warned investors that Musk may continue to make headline-grabbing claims as the case moves forward. Altman has previously criticized the lawsuit as an attempt to weaponize the legal system to slow a competitor. In October, OpenAI announced a restructuring that granted Microsoft a 27% ownership stake in its for-profit arm, while retaining nonprofit oversight. Wazzan calculated the damages by combining Musk’s financial and non-financial contributions — including technical and strategic advice — estimating alleged wrongful gains of $65.5 billion to $109.4 billion for OpenAI and $13.3 billion to $25.1 billion for Microsoft. In a response filed early Saturday, OpenAI and Microsoft asked the court to block Wazzan from presenting his conclusions at trial, arguing that Musk is seeking as much as 2,900 times his original investment. Their lawyers described the methodology as unprecedented, unverifiable and implausible, warning that it would result in billions being transferred from a nonprofit organization to a former donor who is now a competitor. Musk’s filing also indicates that he may seek punitive damages and potentially an injunction, though the scope of that request was not specified.
