Elon Musk. Image: Allison Robbert-Pool/Getty Images 19 January 2026 Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft worth $134 billion for alleged breaches of contract. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and put $38 million of venture capital into it at the time, but left the organisation in 2018 due to conflicts of interest. In 2024, he filed a complaint against OpenAI for breach of original agreements. Musk accused OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman of increasingly transforming the company from an originally non-profit organisation into a profit-driven company. According to Musk, this would have violated the original founding and cooperation agreement, as well as unfair competition charges. Posting on X, Musk said he “can’t wait to start the trial. The discovery and testimony will blow your mind.” OpenAI has slamed the charges as a campaign of intimidation by Musk. Microsoft also denies having been involved in breaching contractual obligations and says there is no evidence to support the allegations. Microsoft also denied having been involved in breaching contractual obligations and says there is no evidence to support the allegations. In March 2025, a court refused Musk’s preliminary demand to stop the transformation of OpenAI. The case is now moving forward, with a scheduled trial start around April in Oakland, California. In the meantime, Musk runs his own AI company xAI, whose chatbot Grok is part of X. Emerce