SHARE Elon Musk is seeking up to US$134 billion (A$205 billion) in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, escalating his legal fight with the ChatGPT maker over claims it abandoned its original nonprofit mission and unfairly profited from his early support. Musk argues he is entitled to a share of what he calls the “wrongful gains” generated by OpenAI after it transitioned to a for-profit structure backed by Microsoft. The world’s richest man co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and says he contributed about US$38 million in seed funding, as well as technical advice, business guidance and his reputation to help the organisation get off the ground. He left the company in 2018. According to an analysis by Musk’s expert witness, financial economist C. Paul Wazzan, those contributions helped OpenAI generate between US$65.5 billion and US$109.4 billion in benefits, while Microsoft gained between US$13.3 billion and US$25.1 billion through its partnership and investment. Combined, that puts the potential damages claim in a range from about US$79 billion to US$134 billion. Musk’s lawyers argue that, like an early investor in a successful startup, he should be entitled to returns far exceeding his initial outlay, especially given OpenAI’s reported valuation of around US$500 billion. OpenAI and Microsoft have rejected the claim, calling it “baseless” and “unserious”. In court filings, their lawyers said the damages model is “made up” and “unverifiable” and warned that Musk is effectively seeking up to 2,900 times what he originally put into the company. OpenAI has also accused Musk of running a campaign of harassment aimed at slowing down a competitor, noting that he now runs rival AI company xAI. The dispute is heading for a jury trial in April in California after a judge refused a last-ditch attempt by OpenAI and Microsoft to have the case thrown out. At the centre of the case is Musk’s claim that OpenAI broke its founding promise to operate as a nonprofit focused on safe, open AI, instead becoming a commercial powerhouse closely tied to Microsoft. OpenAI says its structure still preserves nonprofit control and that Musk’s lawsuit is an attempt to weaponise the legal system against a rival. About Post Author