'I Will In No Way Enrich Myself': Elon Musk Pledges To Donate All OpenAI Lawsuit Winnings To Charity

Elon Musk has publicly pledged that any financial proceeds from his ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI will go entirely to charity. In a post on X, Musk wrote, "Btw, the proceeds of any legal victory in the OpenAI case will be donated to charity. I will in no way enrich myself." The post went viral, with many users asking Musk to specify which charities he intends to support.

What is the OpenAI case?

Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, contributing approximately $38 million, roughly 60 percent of the organisation's early seed funding, on the understanding that OpenAI would remain a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for the benefit of humanity.

At the heart of his legal fight is a fundamental question - did OpenAI stray from its founding purpose? Musk claims that OpenAI's shift towards a commercially driven, for-profit structure, particularly through its deepening ties with Microsoft, constitutes a violation of fiduciary duties and charitable trust principles. He left the board in 2018, citing potential conflicts of interest with Tesla's AI development. OpenAI subsequently created a for-profit subsidiary in 2019, accepted billions from Microsoft, and completed a full restructuring into a Public Benefit Corporation in October 2025.

Damages and the trial

Musk is seeking between $79 billion and $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft. However, the case has already hit a speed bump. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers raised serious doubts at a pretrial hearing on March 13, saying a jury would likely see the damages methodology as "pulling these numbers out of the air." She nonetheless allowed the expert testimony to stand. The jury trial is scheduled to begin April 27 in Oakland, California, with proceedings expected to run through May.

OpenAI has strongly rejected Musk's claims, calling the lawsuit "baseless" and part of an "ongoing pattern of harassment" by a "frustrated commercial competitor" referencing Musk's own AI venture, xAI.