Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI is accusing its rival OpenAI of stealing trade secrets in a new lawsuit, the latest legal action by Musk against former business partner Sam Altman.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a federal court in California, alleges that OpenAI has engaged in a “deeply concerning pattern” of poaching xAI’s former employees to obtain trade secrets related to its AI chatbot Grok. xAI claims that OpenAI is seeking an unfair advantage in the AI technology race.
The complaint states: “OpenAI specifically targeted individuals with knowledge of xAI’s key technology and business plans, including employees with access to xAI’s source code and the advantages of its data center operations, and induced them to violate their confidentiality and other obligations to xAI through illicit means.”
In recent years, as part of the long-running feud between Musk and Altman, xAI has sued OpenAI multiple times. As Altman and OpenAI’s influence in the tech industry has grown, the relationship between the two has become increasingly adversarial. Musk previously tried to prevent OpenAI from transitioning into a for-profit enterprise.
In its latest complaint, xAI said it discovered what it called company sabotage while investigating former engineer Xuechen Li for allegedly stealing trade secrets. In a separate lawsuit, xAI had previously accused Li of leaking confidential information to OpenAI. Li has not yet responded to the allegations.
The lawsuit also alleges that besides Li, OpenAI also poached former engineer Jimmy Fraiture and a unnamed senior financial executive to obtain xAI’s trade secrets.
The lawsuit also includes a screenshot of an email from July of this year sent by Musk and xAI lawyer Alex Spiro to a former xAI executive, accusing them of violating confidentiality obligations. The former employee’s name has been redacted, and they replied with a one-word message: “Die.”
As a frequent litigant, Musk also sued OpenAI and Apple last month, accusing both of anti-competitive behavior and alleging that Apple gives preferential treatment to ChatGPT in the App Store.