Musk seeks up to $134 billion from OpenAI, Microsoft in 'wrongful gains'

By Bipasha Dey Jan 17 (Reuters) – Elon Musk is seeking up to $134 billion from OpenAI and Microsoft, arguing he deserves the "wrongful gains" that they received from his early support of the artificial-intelligence startup, according to a court filing on Friday. OpenAI gained between $65.5 billion and $109.4 billion from the billionaire entrepreneur's contributions when he was co-founding OpenAI from 2015, while Microsoft gained between $13.3 billion and $25.1 billion, Musk said in the federal court filing ahead of his trial against the two companies. OpenAI, Microsoft and Musk's lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours. OpenAI has called the lawsuit "baseless" and part of a "harassment" campaign by Musk. A Microsoft lawyer has said there is no evidence that the company "aided and abetted" OpenAI.  The two companies challenged Musk's damages claims in a separate filing on Friday. Musk, who left OpenAI in 2018 and now runs xAI with its competitor chatbot Grok, alleges that ChatGPT operator OpenAI violated its founding mission in a high-profile restructuring to a for-profit entity. 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 key 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. 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. The companies also disputed Musk's damages figures more broadly, saying the expert's approach is unreliable and could mislead the jury. (Reporting by Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Mike Scarcella in Washington; Editing by William Mallard, Kirsten Donovan)

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