Elon Musk is seeking as much as $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, according to Bloomberg, marking a major escalation in his ongoing lawsuit against the two companies.

The legal action stems from Musk’s claim that OpenAI has violated its original nonprofit mission by prioritizing commercial interests and aligning closely with Microsoft. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but later departed, argues that the organization abandoned its stated goal of developing artificial general intelligence for the benefit of humanity.

According to TechCrunch, the damages figure far exceeds Musk’s original legal demands and comes despite his personal net worth being estimated at around $700 billion. The filing seeks monetary compensation and potential structural remedies.

OpenAI and Microsoft have both disputed Musk’s claims, stating that OpenAI’s structure and partnership agreements are consistent with its charter and necessary to fund large-scale AI development.

Why it matters: The lawsuit strikes at the heart of how frontier AI organizations are governed, funded, and accountable. Its outcome could influence how nonprofit missions coexist with commercial scale, and may shape future legal frameworks for AI labs operating at trillion-dollar impact levels.