Musk's xAI sues ex-employee for taking trade secrets to OpenAI
What's the story
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, xAI, has filed a lawsuit against its former engineer Xuechen Li. The company accuses Li of stealing trade secrets related to its Grok chatbot and taking them to rival firm OpenAI. The lawsuit was filed in a California federal court and highlights the ongoing competition between tech giants for AI talent.
Theft charges
Li allegedly stole confidential info about Grok chatbot
The lawsuit alleges that Li stole confidential information about "cutting-edge AI technologies with features superior to those offered by ChatGPT." This was allegedly done to take the secrets to his new job at OpenAI earlier this month. The complaint does not name OpenAI as a defendant, but it highlights the fierce competition between Musk's company and OpenAI in the tech industry.
Ongoing disputes
Musk has ongoing legal battles with OpenAI
Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, has also sued the company and its CEO Sam Altman for allegedly straying from its initial mission to benefit humanity. In April, OpenAI countersued Musk for harassment. On Monday, xAI filed another lawsuit against OpenAI and Apple in Texas for allegedly monopolizing the market for AI chatbots on Apple devices.
Involvement
Li sold $7M worth of xAI stock
Li joined xAI as an engineer last year and was involved in training and developing Grok. The company alleges that he stole its trade secrets in July, shortly after accepting a job at OpenAI and selling $7 million worth of xAI stock. Musk's start-up claims these secrets could help OpenAI enhance ChatGPT with more innovative AI features.
Legal proceedings
xAI seeks monetary damages
The lawsuit also claims that Li confessed to stealing company files and "covering his tracks" during a meeting on August 14. Further, xAI found more stolen material on his devices that he hadn't disclosed. Now, Musk's AI firm is seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages from Li and a restraining order to stop him from joining OpenAI.