Elon Musk is seeking as much as $134 billion from OpenAI and Microsoft, according to a court filing submitted on Friday. Musk argues that he is entitled to what he describes as the "wrongful gains" these companies received due to his early involvement with the artificial intelligence startup.
In the federal court filing, Musk stated that OpenAI gained between $65.5 billion and $109.4 billion from his contributions while he was co-founding the organization starting in 2015. Microsoft, he said, gained between $13.3 billion and $25.1 billion. The filing was made ahead of his trial against both companies.
OpenAI, Microsoft, and Musk's legal representatives did not provide immediate comments outside of regular business hours.
OpenAI has previously characterized the lawsuit as "baseless" and part of a "harassment" campaign by Musk. A lawyer for Microsoft has stated there is no evidence that the company "aided and abetted" OpenAI.
On the same Friday, the two companies filed a separate document challenging Musk's claims for damages.
Musk, who departed from OpenAI in 2018 and now leads the competing AI company xAI with its chatbot Grok, alleges that OpenAI, the operator of ChatGPT, violated its original founding mission through a high-profile restructuring into a for-profit entity.
A judge in Oakland, California, ruled this month that a jury will hear the trial, which is expected to begin in April.
The filing details that Musk contributed approximately $38 million, which represented 60% of OpenAI's early seed funding. He also assisted in recruiting staff, connecting founders with key contacts, and lending credibility to the project at its inception.
"Just as an early investor in a startup company may realize gains many orders of magnitude greater than the investor's initial investment, the wrongful gains that OpenAI and Microsoft have earned – and which Mr. Musk is now entitled to disgorge – are much larger than Mr. Musk's initial contributions," Musk argues in the filing.
The document notes that the calculations of Musk's contributions to OpenAI and Microsoft were performed by his expert witness, financial economist C. Paul Wazzan.
If the jury finds either company liable, Musk may seek punitive damages and other penalties, including a possible injunction, according to the filing. The specific form of any potential injunction was not detailed.
In their own filing, OpenAI and Microsoft requested the judge to restrict what Musk's expert witness may present to the jury. They argued that his analysis should be excluded, describing it as "made up," "unverifiable," and "unprecedented." They also contended it seeks an "implausible" transfer of billions of dollars from a nonprofit organization to a former donor who is now a competitor.
The companies further disputed Musk's damage figures more broadly, stating that the expert's methodology is unreliable and could potentially mislead the jury.