Musk seeks up to $134 billion damages from OpenAI and Microsoft

Elon Musk wants OpenAI and Microsoft to pay him damages in the range of $79 billion to $134 billion over his claims that the generative AI company defrauded him by abandoning its nonprofit roots and partnering with the software giant.

Musk’s lawyer detailed the damages request in a court filing Friday, a day after a federal judge rejected a final bid by OpenAI and Microsoft to avoid a jury trial set for late April in Oakland, California.

Citing calculations by a financial economist expert witness, C. Paul Wazzan, the filing says Musk is entitled to a chunk of OpenAI’s current $500 billion valuation after he was defrauded of the $38 million in seed money he donated to OpenAI when he helped found the startup in 2015. OpenAI and Microsoft later disputed the calculations.