Elon Musk is escalating his legal battle with OpenAI and Microsoft, now seeking between $79 billion and $134 billion in damages over claims that the artificial intelligence company abandoned its nonprofit mission and defrauded him as an early backer. The latest figures were detailed in a new court filing, first reported by Bloomberg, as the case heads toward a jury trial later this spring.
According to the filing, Musk argues that he is entitled to a significant portion of OpenAI’s current valuation, which his legal team pegs at roughly $500 billion. Musk helped found OpenAI in 2015 and donated $38 million in seed funding before leaving the board in 2018. His lawyer, Steven Molo, claims that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure — alongside its deep partnership with Microsoft — generated “wrongful gains” that Musk should now be able to recover.
Those alleged gains are substantial. An expert witness hired by Musk calculated that OpenAI alone benefited by $65.5 billion to $109.4 billion, while Microsoft’s gains range from $13.3 billion to $25.1 billion. Combined, that places Musk’s total damages claim at up to $134 billion. The filing compares Musk’s position to that of an early startup investor whose initial contribution can yield outsized returns if the company succeeds.
The request comes just days after U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that there is enough evidence for Musk’s lawsuit to proceed to a jury trial, rejecting efforts by OpenAI and Microsoft to avoid it. The trial is currently scheduled for late April in Oakland, California.
OpenAI has pushed back forcefully, calling Musk’s lawsuit baseless and labeling the damages demand “unserious.” In a statement, the company said the filing is part of an ongoing harassment campaign and warned investors to expect more attention-grabbing claims as the case moves forward. Microsoft did not comment.
Musk, for his part, appears unfazed. Posting on X following the court filing, he said he couldn’t wait for the trial to begin, adding that the discovery process and testimony would “blow your mind.” When one user described the trial as a circus, Musk replied that it would be a “very entertaining circus.”
The lawsuit also unfolds as Musk ramps up efforts at his own AI company, xAI, which recently raised $20 billion to expand development of its Grok models. Separately, xAI and X are also pursuing antitrust litigation against OpenAI and Apple, underscoring how personal and competitive this legal fight has become.
