Musk, the world's richest person, seeks $134 billion in damages from OpenAI

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has demanded damages of up to 198 trillion won from OpenAI and Microsoft (MS), according to Bloomberg and other U.S. media reports.

In a court filing submitted on the 16th (local time), Musk’s legal team said OpenAI abandoned its nonprofit principles and joined forces with Microsoft, misleading him, and sought damages of up to $134 billion (about 198 trillion won).

Musk’s side said he donated $38 million as seed funding when OpenAI was founded in 2015, but later claimed his rights were infringed as OpenAI strayed from its nonprofit mission.

The claim is that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman misled him by saying he would develop open (open-source) AI technology for the benefit of humanity to counter Google’s DeepMind.

Musk has argued that he invested a large sum when OpenAI was established in 2015 on the strength of Altman’s remarks, but that OpenAI later abandoned its initial mission and began pursuing profit, including by taking investment from Microsoft.

Musk’s side maintains it is entitled to a significant portion of OpenAI’s current valuation of $500 billion.

Meanwhile, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of Dec. 31 last year, the world’s richest person was Musk, with a net worth estimated at $623 billion. He also ranked No. 1 in last year’s wealth increase ($190 billion).

Roh Jeong-dong, Hankyung.com reporter dong2@hankyung.com