Tech billionaire Elon Musk accuses OpenAI and Microsoft of “unfair profiteering” and is demanding $134 billion in compensation.

According to TechSpot , despite holding a massive fortune of $681 billion, billionaire Elon Musk is not stopping there. He has officially demanded that OpenAI (the creator of ChatGPT) and Microsoft pay him a total of $134 billion, accusing the two giants of “unfairly profiting” from his early contributions.

Where did the $134 billion figure that Mr. Musk is aiming for come from?

Earlier this month, after a judge rejected an attempt by OpenAI and Microsoft to drop the lawsuit, the legal battle entered a new, tense phase. In recently revealed court documents, billionaire Musk’s legal team presented a detailed calculation of damages.

Specifically, Musk’s side alleges that OpenAI benefited from $65.5 billion to $109.4 billion thanks to the platform he built. Meanwhile, Microsoft  – OpenAI’s largest partner – is also alleged to have earned between $13.3 billion and $25.1 billion. In total, the amount he wants to recover is approximately $134 billion.

Elon Musk is demanding $134 billion from OpenAI and Microsoft.

PHOTO: SCREENSHOT FROM TECHSPOT

Elon Musk’s lawyer, Steven Molo, argued that his contribution went beyond the initial $38 million (60% of the startup’s funding). The real value lay in his use of personal “prestige and reputation” to attract talent, forge partnerships, and guide strategic planning that helped OpenAI scale. Musk’s economic advisor called these “illegitimate profits” that OpenAI gained after “turning the tables” from a non-profit to a profit-making business.

OpenAI retaliates: “Elon Musk is just jealous.”

In response to the accusations, OpenAI released evidence from old diaries and emails, asserting that Elon Musk is deliberately manipulating information to distort the truth.

An OpenAI representative stated: “The truth is that in 2017, Elon himself agreed that a for-profit model was a necessary step. Things only fell apart when we refused to give him full control of the company or merge OpenAI with Tesla.”

OpenAI alleges that the lawsuit’s true purpose is not for justice, but rather an act of unfair competition. They claim that Musk is deliberately trying to stifle OpenAI’s development to pave the way for xAI  – his own newly established artificial intelligence company.

The root cause of the rift.

Billionaire Musk was one of the co-founders of OpenAI in 2015 with the mission of creating a safe, open-source, and non-profit AI to rival Google. However, he left in 2018.

The lawsuit revolves around Musk’s core argument: that OpenAI violated its ‘establishment contract’ by partnering with Microsoft to maximize profits instead of serving the best interests of humanity as initially promised. This legal battle is expected to be protracted and receive considerable media attention in the coming months.