Saad Ullah
⬤ Court filings show Elon Musk is asking for between $79 billion and $134 billion from OpenAI and Microsoft, with room for even more in punitive damages. Musk claims OpenAI ditched its original nonprofit mission once it got cozy with Microsoft in a major commercial deal. The lawsuit points to OpenAI's roughly $500 billion valuation as justification for the massive payout he's demanding.
⬤ Musk helped launch OpenAI back in 2015 and chipped in about $38 million early on. His lawyers say the company's shift in direction created enormous value but cut him out of the benefits, even though he was there from the start. After leaving OpenAI's board in 2018, Musk started his own AI venture in 2023 before filing this lawsuit in 2024.
⬤ A financial expert working for Musk calculated that OpenAI wrongfully gained somewhere between $65-109 billion, while Microsoft picked up another $13-25 billion. Both companies tried to dodge a jury trial, but a judge shot that down. The case is now set for late April in Oakland, California, and could reshape how AI companies handle the balance between their stated missions and commercial partnerships.
Saad Ullah
