Elon Musk, billionaire Tesla owner, has asked a United States (US) federal court to award him up to $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, stating that the companies earned “wrongful gains” from his early support of the artificial intelligence startup.
This is according to a court filing, reported by Reuters.
In filings ahead of a trial expected to start in April in Oakland, California, Musk stated that OpenAI benefited between $65.5 billion and $109.4 billion from his contributions when he helped co-found the organisation in 2015, and Microsoft gained between $13.3 billion and $25.1 billion through its involvement.
He has asked a United States (US) federal court to award him up to $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, stating that the companies earned “wrongful gains” from his early support of the artificial intelligence startup.
This is according to a court filing, reported by Reuters.
In filings ahead of a trial expected to start in April in Oakland, California, Musk stated that OpenAI benefited between $65.5 billion and $109.4 billion from his contributions when he helped co-found the organisation in 2015, and Microsoft gained between $13.3 billion and $25.1 billion through its involvement.
Musk’s legal team argues that his early financial and strategic contributions, including approximately $38 million in seed funding, the recruitment of key personnel, and assistance in connecting founders with contacts, laid the foundation for the later success of OpenAI and Microsoft’s commercial AI efforts.
“Without Elon Musk, there’d be no OpenAI. He provided the bulk of the seed funding, lent his reputation, and taught them all he knew about scaling a business. A pre-eminent expert quantified the value of that,” Musk’s lead trial lawyer Steven Molo told Reuters.
“Just as an early investor in a startup company may realise 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,” the filing said.
Musk, who left OpenAI’s board in 2018 and now leads AI company xAI, alleges that OpenAI violated its founding non-profit mission when it restructured to include a for-profit arm tied to Microsoft’s investment and commercial strategy.
Meanwhile, OpenAI has labelled the lawsuit “baseless” and part of a “harassment campaign” by Musk, and Microsoft’s legal team has said there is no evidence the company “aided and abetted” OpenAI in any wrongdoing.
Both companies have asked the judge to limit what Musk’s expert witness may present at trial, arguing that the damages calculations are unreliable and could mislead a jury.
According to Reuters, Musk’s filing says he may pursue punitive damages and other penalties, including a possible injunction, if the jury finds the companies liable, though it did not specify what form any injunction would take.
