Elon Musk Seeks Up to $134 Billion in Damages from OpenAI and Microsoft in Ongoing Lawsuit
SAN FRANCISCO – Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and xAI, has escalated his long-running legal battle against OpenAI, demanding between $79 billion and $134 billion in damages from the AI company and its major partner, Microsoft. The claim, detailed in a recent court filing, accuses OpenAI of fraudulently abandoning its original nonprofit mission and reaping massive “wrongful gains” from Musk’s early contributions. The lawsuit, originally filed in 2024 and now heading to a jury trial starting April 27, 2026, in Oakland, California, centers on allegations that OpenAI misled Musk when he co-founded the organization in 2015. Musk provided approximately $38 million in seed funding and significant technical and reputational support, viewing OpenAI as a nonprofit dedicated to safe artificial general intelligence (AGI) development for humanity’s benefit. However, OpenAI transitioned to a capped-profit model and forged a deep partnership with Microsoft, which has invested billions and holds a...