Elon Musk's xAI sues OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft
Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI, just filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in California. They claim OpenAI tried to poach their team and stole trade secrets tied to Grok, xAI's chatbot.
The suit specifically calls out three ex-xAI employees—Xuechen Li, Jimmy Fraiture, and an unnamed senior finance executive believed to be former CFO Mike Liberatore.
Li took the company's entire source code before leaving
According to xAI, Li took the company's entire source code before leaving, while Fraiture is accused of grabbing code right before jumping ship to OpenAI.
The finance executive allegedly responded with a crude email when asked about confidentiality issues.
This isn't just a one-off fight—both companies are now suing each other over trade secrets and harassment claims.
OpenAI has denied everything and wants the case thrown out.
There's even a side lawsuit against Apple for allegedly teaming up with OpenAI, showing just how intense this tech rivalry has gotten in 2024.