Elon Musk has filed a high-stakes lawsuit against OpenAI and its top leaders, including CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman, alleging they defrauded him by abandoning the company’s original nonprofit mission. The suit, set for trial in April in Oakland, California, claims Musk is entitled to damages ranging from $79 billion to $134 billion. This massive figure stems from his assertion that he was misled when he helped found OpenAI in 2015 with a $38 million seed donation, believing the company would remain a nonprofit focused on safe, open-source AI development. Musk’s legal team revealed the damage calculation in a recent court filing, citing expert witness C. Paul Wazzan, a financial economist with decades of experience. Wazzan determined that Musk is owed between $65.5 billion and $109.43 billion in “wrongful gains” derived from OpenAI’s shift to a for-profit structure, particularly after Microsoft invested $10 billion in 2019 and later became a key partner. The expert also estimated that Microsoft should be liable for between $13.3 billion and $25.06 billion in wrongful gains, based on its role in the company’s transformation. Musk has been vocal about the case, using his social media platform X to share excerpts from unsealed court documents and build public momentum. In a post Friday, he declared, “Can’t wait to start the trial. The discovery and testimony will blow your mind,” signaling his intent to expose what he views as a betrayal of OpenAI’s founding principles. OpenAI responded with a blog titled “The truth Elon left out,” aiming to counter Musk’s narrative. The post argues that Musk sought full control over OpenAI from the beginning, driven by past frustrations with losing control at Tesla and SpaceX. It claims Musk pushed for his children to eventually oversee artificial general intelligence (AGI), a suggestion the company says surprised its leadership and revealed his desire for personal dominance. The blog also suggests Musk’s claims of being misled are inconsistent with his own actions and communications. The legal battle centers on whether OpenAI’s pivot from nonprofit to for-profit status violated its original mission or Musk’s expectations. Musk maintains that the shift undermined the trust he placed in the organization and deprived him of a fair return on his early investment. OpenAI, meanwhile, argues it was necessary to attract funding and scale its AI development to remain competitive, especially against rivals like Google and Meta. The case is not just about money—it’s a clash of visions for AI’s future. Musk has long advocated for cautious, transparent development, while OpenAI has embraced rapid innovation and commercialization. The outcome could set a precedent for how founding commitments are enforced in tech startups and influence how AI companies balance ethics, profit, and governance. Despite the dramatic stakes, OpenAI, Musk, and Microsoft have not commented further beyond the blog and public posts. The trial will likely hinge on internal communications, financial records, and the interpretation of OpenAI’s founding documents. As the April trial approaches, the world watches closely, not only for the legal resolution but for what it may reveal about the future of AI and the power dynamics behind its creation.