Lawsuit Against OpenAI: Trial Begins in California with Elon Musk as a Defendant
28 April 12:14
A federal court in Oakland is beginning jury selection in the case involvingElon Musk’s lawsuitagainst OpenAI’s leadership. This was reported by The Guardian, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
The billionaire is attempting to prove in court that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman breached their contractual obligations by shifting the company’s focus from a charitable mission to commercial gain.
“The plaintiff is demanding not only the resignation of top management but also the recovery of over $134 billion in damages for subsequent redistribution for non-commercial purposes,” the report states.
Musk’s central argument is that the startup’s leaders used shared intellectual resources for personal enrichment and a partnership with Microsoft, deviating from the organization’s statutory goals.
The businessman seeks to legally block OpenAI’s transformation into a commercial corporation and return it to its original operational format.
For its part, OpenAI emphasizes the legal groundlessness of the claims. Company representatives note that as far back as 2017, Musk personally agreed to the need to transition to a commercial model to raise capital.
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Additionally, the defense argues that the businessman’s financial contributions were voluntary donations to a nonprofit organization, which were tax-deductible, rather than investments that would confer ownership rights.
The trial is expected to last about three weeks and could impact OpenAI’s planned stock market debut, which is valued at $1 trillion.
Musk founded and funded OpenAI as a nonprofit organization in 2015, providing, according to him, about $44 million in the early years. However, in 2018, tensions arose between Musk and OpenAI over leadership, after which Musk stepped down. He later founded his own AI company, xAI.
In 2019, OpenAI underwent a restructuring: a for-profit subsidiary was created, and in 2025 it was converted into a public benefit corporation accountable to a nonprofit foundation. The attorneys general of California and Delaware approved this transition last year.
Musk claims that this transition undermined OpenAI’s original nonprofit mission to develop safe, open-source AI technologies for society, rather than for private gain. He also believes the company derived improper profits from his contributions in violation of charitable trust and unjust enrichment.
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