Musk Partially Withdraws Lawsuit Against Altman…Decides Not to Claim 'Fraud Damage'

Musk Partially Withdraws Lawsuit Against Altman…Decides Not to Claim 'Fraud Damage'

Only 2 claims remain out of 26: unjust enrichment and breach of charitable trust…Jury selection on the 27th

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has partially withdrawn his lawsuit ahead of a major court battle with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

Bloomberg and Reuters reported on the 25th (local time) that Musk decided to withdraw all but two of his 26 claims, specifically those concerning unjust enrichment and breach of charitable trust.

Musk had previously claimed that Altman deceived him by promising to develop open-source AI technology for the benefit of humanity to counter Google's DeepMind.

Although he had repeatedly called Altman a 'fraudster' on social media (SNS), claims related to fraud against Altman and Greg Brockman, president of OpenAI, have also been withdrawn.

Musk took issue with the fact that OpenAI was founded as a non-profit organization but sought to transition into a for-profit company with the support of Microsoft.

In particular, he believes that when OpenAI was founded in 2015, he contributed $38 million in initial funding, but OpenAI breached its non-profit promise and pursued profit, thereby gaining unjust enrichment.

He is claiming damages of up to $134 billion (approximately 198 trillion Korean won) and stated that if he wins and receives the money, he will transfer it to the OpenAI Charitable Foundation. Along with this, he also demanded the dismissal of Altman and Brockman.

Altman, Brockman, Microsoft, and others retorted that Musk's claims were baseless harassment.

Musk and Altman were partners who co-led OpenAI in the past, but their relationship fractured when Musk left OpenAI in 2018.

This lawsuit, pitting two giants of the information and communication industry against each other, was filed in 2024 and will begin its formal proceedings on the 27th.

On the 27th, a jury will be selected at the Federal District Court in Oakland, California, and opening statements are scheduled for the following day.