Elon Musk Sues OpenAI for $150 Billion and Demands Sam Altman’s Removal

TLDR

• Elon Musk amended his lawsuit against OpenAI, asking that any damages go to OpenAI’s charitable arm, not himself
• Musk is seeking over $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft
• Musk wants Sam Altman removed from OpenAI’s nonprofit board and Greg Brockman removed as an officer
• Jury selection begins April 27 in federal court in Oakland, California
• OpenAI called the lawsuit “a harassment campaign driven by ego, jealousy and a desire to slow down a competitor”

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Elon Musk filed an amendment to his lawsuit against OpenAI on Tuesday, asking that any money he wins go to OpenAI’s nonprofit arm rather than to himself. He is also asking the court to remove CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman from their roles.

NEWS: Elon Musk amends OpenAI lawsuit to ask that any damages he may win be awarded to the OpenAI’s nonprofit arm and not to himself.

Additionally, he is seeking to have OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman removed from their roles as officers in the company.… pic.twitter.com/B5Y5aIsP8Z

— X Daily News (@xDaily) April 7, 2026

Musk originally sued OpenAI in 2024. He claims the company deceived him into donating $38 million by promising it would stay a nonprofit. OpenAI has since restructured into a nonprofit that holds a 26% stake in its for-profit arm.

Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside others. Musk left the company in 2018 after trying to merge it with Tesla. In 2023, he launched a competing AI company called xAI, which developed the chatbot Grok.

Musk is now seeking more than $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, which is OpenAI’s main investor. His lawyers previously sought up to $134 billion in a January filing.

His lawyer, Marc Toberoff, said Musk “is not seeking a single dollar for himself.” Toberoff said the goal is to return what was taken from a public charity and hold the people responsible accountable.

What Musk Is Asking the Court to Do

Musk’s lawyers want the court to force Altman and Brockman to hand over any equity or financial benefits they received to OpenAI’s charitable arm. They also want OpenAI to revert to operating as a true nonprofit.

“Removal of a charity’s officers and directors is a common remedy where those individuals fail to protect or carry out the charity’s public mission,” Musk’s legal team wrote in the Tuesday filing.

OpenAI pushed back quickly. In a post on X, the company said the lawsuit is “nothing more than a harassment campaign that is driven by ego, jealousy and a desire to slow down a competitor.” Microsoft declined to comment.

The Road to Trial

Jury selection is set to begin on April 27 in a federal court in Oakland, California.

On Monday, OpenAI sent a letter to the attorneys general of California and Delaware. The letter accused Musk of spreading false claims to discredit OpenAI ahead of the trial. OpenAI also alleged that Musk coordinated efforts against the company with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Toberoff called OpenAI’s letter a “desperate deflection,” saying a judge and jury will decide the case.

OpenAI is currently valued at $852 billion and is aiming to go public later this year. SpaceX, which acquired xAI in February in a deal valuing the combined entity at $1.25 trillion, recently filed confidential paperwork with the SEC for what could be a record IPO.

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