- Musk sued OpenAI in 2024, claiming that the ChatGPT maker and its CEO, Sam Altman, defrauded him by abandoning its non-profit roots after he had made charitable donations to the AI lab a decade ago.
- A jury trial in the case is set to begin on April 28.
- Musk, who runs xAI, an OpenAI competitor, has been a vocal critic of the ChatGPT maker and Altman.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has vowed to donate to charity any potential legal winnings from his case against OpenAI, in which he has alleged that CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman breached the company's founding agreement by prioritizing commercial gain over its original mission to benefit humanity and effectively deceiving him in the process.
“Btw, the proceeds of any legal victory in the OpenAI case will be donated to charity. I will in no way enrich myself,” he said on X.
Musk’s comments come after the California court, which is hearing the case, has cast doubts over the enormous financial claim Musk has made. “A jury is going to understand that he is pulling these numbers out of the air,” Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said, according to a report in The Information. “Do I find it convincing? Not really.” Still, Rogers denied OpenAI’s request and allowed the damages calculation from Musk’s expert witness to remain a part of the case.
Musk-OpenAI Case
Musk sued OpenAI for $134 billion in 2024, claiming that the ChatGPT maker and its CEO, Altman, defrauded him by abandoning its nonprofit roots after he had made charitable donations to the AI lab a decade ago. A jury trial is set to begin on April 28.
After working on it for years, OpenAI secured backing from critical lawmakers, including the attorneys general in California and Delaware, and converted to a for-profit corporate structure in October last year. The shift paved the way for the significant equity funding OpenAI has secured in recent months and creates a clearer path toward a potential initial public offering (IPO).
Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and provided significant early investment, but left the board in 2018 after clashing with Altman. In 2023, Musk founded xAI, a rival AI lab that has since become a major player in the AI market.
Musk has been a vocal critic of OpenAI. He has sued the company, along with Apple, in a separate case alleging preferential and anti-competitive treatment of OpenAI and its ChatGPT app on Apple’s App Store.
Case Comes Down To Claims
The calculations of damages are at the heart of Musk’s claim, which, if accepted by the jury, could put OpenAI on the hook for $109 billion and Microsoft for $25 billion.
Musk’s $134 billion claim is based on an analysis by expert witness C. Paul Wazzan, an economist at the consulting firm Berkeley Research Group and a venture capitalist.
According to Wazzan, Musk’s early $38 million donation, along with his non-monetary contributions to OpenAI, accounted for 50% to 75% of the value of OpenAI’s not-for-profit arm. The not-for-profit arm owns just over a quarter of the for-profit business, recently valued at $730 billion.
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