Elon Musk demands $109 billion from OpenAI
In the legal dispute with the AI company, the former co-founder is now escalating. For alleged breaches of contract, Musk is seeking a triple-digit billion sum.
(Image: photosince/Shutterstock.com)
The multi-billionaire and arguably the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, is escalating his legal dispute with the AI software company OpenAI, which operates ChatGPT among other products. His lawyers have calculated claims of up to $109.4 billion from an expert. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and contributed $38 million in venture capital, but withdrew in 2018 due to conflicts of interest and filed a lawsuit for breach of contract in 2024.
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Elon Musk accuses OpenAI and current CEO Sam Altman of increasingly transforming the originally non-profit company into a profit-oriented one. This, he claims, violates OpenAI's founding agreement. Furthermore, there are allegations of a breach of fiduciary duties and unfair competition. Musk now leads his own AI company, xAI, whose chatbot Grok is part of the social network X (formerly Twitter).
In March 2025, a court rejected Elon Musk's urgent motion to halt OpenAI's restructuring. However, it also decided to proceed with the main trial. The trial is expected to begin in April.
(chh)
