Elon Musk Sues OpenAI for $134 Billion in the AI Century Lawsuit

There is a harsh reality to this lawsuit: no matter who wins, OpenAI will no longer be the same as it was when it was founded in 2015.
April 28, 2026, Federal Court in Oakland, California. Musk and Altman, the two co-founders, gaze across the courtroom.
The jury has been selected, opening statements have been made.
$134 billion hangs over the ceiling—Musk says he wants to fully compensate OpenAI’s nonprofit parent, on the condition that Altman and Brockman leave, OpenAI reverts to nonprofit status, and Microsoft assumes joint liability.
OpenAI claims he is engaging in competitive suppression, he’s just jealous.
In December 2015, OpenAI registered as a nonprofit, 501(c)(3).
The founding lineup now looks like an all-star cast of the AI world: Musk, Altman, Sutskever, Brockman.
The goal sounds very noble—counteracting Google DeepMind, to make AI “benefit all of humanity.”
Musk indeed invested heavily at the time. He personally put in about $44 million, pledged a total of $1 billion, and even went to Google to poach Sutskever.
Early email records show he and Altman were highly aligned on the issue of “AI risks.”
But good times didn’t last long.
By the end of 2017, Musk said OpenAI was burning through money faster than Google, and it needed to commercialize or merge with Tesla.
The board didn’t give him majority control.
In February 2018, he resigned from the board.
The official reason was “conflict of interest,” but everyone knew privately it was because he didn’t get control.
As he left, he left a parting shot—OpenAI was “destined to fail.”
Karpathy later confirmed that the power struggle was the real reason.
In 2019, OpenAI created a “profit cap” subsidiary, with Microsoft investing its first $1 billion.
Later, Microsoft held 27% stake, now worth about $135 billion.
Musk was aware at the time and didn’t strongly oppose.
But he added a line in later lawsuits: “The tail shouldn’t wag the dog.”
And then ChatGPT exploded.
After launching in November 2022, OpenAI transformed from a research lab into a consumer AI giant.
Valuation jumped from $1 billion in 2019 to $29 billion in early 2023, and then to $852 billion in March 2026—making it the most valuable private company in the world.
The speed was so fast that even OpenAI might not have fully realized it.
In 2023, Musk launched xAI, directly competing.
He publicly criticized OpenAI—calling it a “betrayal of its mission” and a “closed commercial machine.”
In February 2024, he sued in a California state court.
He withdrew in June, then refiled in federal court in August.
He called it “a Shakespearean-level betrayal.”
In February 2025, Musk’s consortium offered $97.4 billion to buy OpenAI’s nonprofit part.
Four days later, it was rejected.
By the end of the year, OpenAI completed restructuring into a public benefit corporation, still under the nonprofit foundation.
On April 27-28, 2026, in Oakland Federal Court.
The nine-person jury was selected, and opening statements began.
Before the trial, Musk withdrew the fraud claims, leaving two: breach of charitable trust duties and unjust enrichment.
The claim amounts to about $134 billion, to be fully returned to the nonprofit entity.
On April 28, he testified himself.
His exact words: “I came up with the idea, named it, recruited people, taught knowledge, and almost fully funded it in the early days.”
He also mentioned a debate with Larry Page about AI risks—this was the true starting point of his founding OpenAI.
He said if he lost the case, it would “destroy the foundation of American charitable trusts.”
OpenAI’s lawyer responded directly: “Musk left without control and is now jealous of success.”
The trial is expected to last 3-4 weeks.
Witnesses include Altman, Brockman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Shivon Zilis.
The mitigation phase begins in mid-May.
Market predictions give Musk about a 40% chance of winning.
He has been continuously posting on X: “They stole a nonprofit organization, and that’s wrong.”
Honestly, I’m not really concerned about who wins between them.
What I’m thinking about is: after becoming the world’s most valuable company, do the 2015 promises of “benefiting humanity” still hold?
If this case is decided in favor of the other side, and all nonprofits can just turn against their donors once they find money, what’s the point of “nonprofit” anymore?
This might be the real story behind this “most expensive breakup.”