Share Elon Musk has intensified his legal war against OpenAI and Microsoft, filing a federal court claim on Friday seeking up to $134 billion in damages. The billionaire entrepreneur argues he is entitled to the “wrongful gains” which the two companies allegedly reaped from his early financial and reputational backing of what began as a non-profit startup. The filing, submitted ahead of a high-stakes jury trial scheduled for April 2026, breaks down the massive claim into two parts: between $65.5 billion and $109.4 billion from OpenAI, and $13.3 billion to $25.1 billion from Microsoft. Musk’s legal team contends that these figures represent the value his contributions, including $38 million in seed funding, key talent recruitment, and business expertise, added to the now-trillion-dollar AI ecosystem. “Without Elon Musk, there’d be no OpenAI,” stated Steven Molo, Musk’s lead trial lawyer. “He provided the bulk of the seed funding, lent his reputation and taught them all he knows about scaling a business.” OpenAI has dismissed the filing as an “unserious demand” and a continuation of what it calls a “harassment campaign” by Musk, who now runs a direct competitor, xAI. Microsoft, which has invested billions into OpenAI for a roughly 27% stake, has also challenged the damages claim, with lawyers previously stating there is no evidence the company “aided and abetted” any wrongdoing. The core of the dispute centres on OpenAI’s 2025 restructuring from a non-profit into a for-profit public benefit corporation. Musk alleges this shift betrayed the company’s founding mission to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) for the benefit of humanity. The $134 billion figure was calculated by expert witness and financial economist C. Paul Wazzan, who likened Musk’s role to that of an early investor entitled to gains “many orders of magnitude greater” than an initial stake. As the case moves towards the April 27 trial date, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has cleared the path for a jury to decide if OpenAI breached its promise to remain a charitable trust: a ruling that could redefine the governance of the world’s most powerful AI technologies. For latest tech stories go to TechDigest.tv Share this: