Elon Musk is seeking $79 billion to $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft over claims that the ChatGPT maker defrauded him by abandoning its non-profit roots and partnering with the Redmond, Washington-based company, as per a report by Bloomberg.
Reportedly, Musk's lawyers in a court filing on Friday detailed the damages just a day after a federal judge rejected the final effort by OpenAI and Microsoft to avoid a jury trial set for late April.
How were damages calculated?
The filing details calculations made by financial economist expert witness C. Paul Wazzan. It states that Musk is entitled to a portion of OpenAI's current $500 billion valuation because of being defrauded by the company for $38 million, the amount he donated to the company when he co-founded it in 2015.
Wazzan reportedly calculated the damages by combining Musk's financial and non-monetary contributions, including technical and business advice to OpenAI. The filing claims that wrongful gains amount to $65.50 billion to $109.43 billion for OpenAI and $13.30 billion to $25.06 billion for Microsoft.
Musk's lawyer Steven Molo said in the filing, “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.”
The billionaire left OpenAI's board in 2018 and became a critical voice against the company after it launched ChatGPT in late 2022. Musk also went on to found his own AI startup, xAI, which is the maker of the Grok chatbot.
OpenAI, while reacting to Musk's claims, said in a statement, “Mr Musk’s lawsuit continues to be baseless and part of his ongoing pattern of harassment, and we look forward to demonstrating this at trial… This latest unserious demand is aimed solely at furthering this harassment campaign.”
The company also warned investors to expect Musk to make more attention-grabbing claims as the legal fight unfolds.
Musk has earlier called OpenAI a “closed source, maximum-profit company” tightly controlled by Microsoft. He has also personally called OpenAI CEO Sam Altman derogatory names like “swindler” and “Scam Altman”.
Meanwhile, OpenAI has maintained that Musk left the startup because his aim for ‘absolute control’ of the company was not established. The company also argues that Musk wanted to merge OpenAI with his electric automaker Tesla.
Last year, OpenAI announced its restructuring effort from a non-profit to a public benefit corporation (PBC), giving a 27% stake to Microsoft while keeping the nonprofit parent in control.
