xAI accuses OpenAI of stealing trade secrets in lawsuit
Elon Musk's startup xAI has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in California, claiming OpenAI poached key employees to steal its trade secrets.
According to the suit, engineers Xuechen Li and Jimmy Fraiture, plus a senior finance executive, were offered multimillion-dollar packages and communicated over encrypted channels like Signal to access sensitive info.
xAI claims Grok source code, R&D docs were taken
xAI alleges that its Grok source code, internal R&D docs, business plans (including a video featuring Musk), and data center strategies—all described as their "secret sauce"—were taken.
The company says OpenAI dangled multimillion-dollar packages to lure staff away.
On [a date before October 2025], OpenAI called the claims "groundless," saying it hires talent fairly and has no interest in xAI's confidential data.
The case is currently ongoing in San Francisco federal court.