OpenAI has called Musk’s lawsuit ‘baseless.’ izzuan – stock.adobe.com A judge in Oakland, California, ruled this month that a jury will hear the trial, expected to start in April. Musk’s filing says he contributed about $38 million, 60% of OpenAI’s early seed funding, helped recruit staff, connect the founders with contacts and lend credibility to the project when it was created. “Just as an early investor in a startup company may realize gains many orders of magnitude greater than the investor’s initial investment, the wrongful gains that OpenAI and Microsoft have earned — and which Mr. Musk is now entitled to disgorge –- are much larger than Mr. Musk’s initial contributions,” Musk argues. An attorney for Microsoft has said there is no evidence that the company “aided and abetted” OpenAI. Sundry Photography – stock.adobe.com The filing says Musk’s contributions to OpenAI and Microsoft were calculated by his expert witness, financial economist C. Paul Wazzan. Musk may seek punitive damages and other penalties, including a possible injunction, if the jury finds either company liable, the filing says, without specifying what form any injunction might take. In their own filing, OpenAI and Microsoft asked the judge to limit what Musk’s expert may present to jurors, arguing his analysis should be excluded as “made up,” “unverifiable” and “unprecedented” and as seeking an “implausible” transfer of billions from a nonprofit to a former donor-turned-competitor. Filed under