Elon Musk has launched a $134 billion lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming both companies unjustly profited from his early backing of the artificial intelligence pioneer and abandoned its founding mission.
In a federal court filing on Friday, lawyers for Elon Musk said OpenAI gained between $65.5 billion and $109.4 billion as a result of Musk’s initial funding, reputation and strategic input after he co-founded the organisation in 2015. Microsoft, which owns an estimated 27 per cent stake in OpenAI, is alleged to have benefited by between $13.3 billion and $25.1 billion.
Musk’s legal team argues that without his early involvement, OpenAI, now best known for ChatGPT, would not exist in its current form. His lawyer, Steven Molo, said Musk provided the “bulk of the seed funding”, lent credibility to the venture and shared expertise in scaling technology businesses.
Musk left OpenAI in 2018 following disagreements over its direction and governance. He now claims the company breached its original non-profit mission by restructuring itself into a more commercially oriented entity, a move designed to attract vast sums of capital to fund its AI ambitions.
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