"Abandoning Non-Profit Principles for Profit with MS"
Claims of 'Rights Infringement' over Corporate Value
It has been reported that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has filed a claim for damages of up to $134 billion (approximately 198 trillion won) against OpenAI and Microsoft (MS).
According to Bloomberg and other foreign media outlets on January 16 (local time), Musk's legal team alleged in a complaint submitted to the court that OpenAI abandoned its founding principle of operating as a non-profit and deceived him by partnering with Microsoft.
Musk's side claimed that he donated $38 million when OpenAI was established in 2015, and that at the time, CEO Sam Altman explained to him that the company would develop open AI for the benefit of humanity to compete with Google DeepMind. However, Musk asserted that OpenAI later shifted to a for-profit company through investment from Microsoft, betraying its original mission, and that his rights were infringed in the process.
Musk's legal team argued that, given OpenAI's current corporate valuation of around $500 billion, he holds a significant portion of the rights. The complaint includes an estimate by financial economist C. Paul Wazzan, which calculates OpenAI's unjust enrichment at between $65.5 billion and $109.4 billion, and Microsoft's share at between $13.3 billion and $25.1 billion. Musk also plans to seek punitive damages.
After stepping down from OpenAI's board in 2018, Musk established his own AI company in 2023. In 2024, he publicly clashed with CEO Altman over the company's for-profit strategy and filed a lawsuit.
In a statement, OpenAI countered, "Musk's lawsuit is baseless and constitutes ongoing harassment," adding, "We look forward to proving this in court."
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