OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (L), and Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Reuters
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI has sued a former engineer at the company for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to its Grok chatbot and taking them to rivalOpenAI.
Musk’s companysaid in the complaintfiled on Thursday in California federal court that Xuechen Li stole confidential information related to “cutting-edge AI technologies with features superior to those offered by ChatGPT” to bring to his new job atOpenAIearlier this month.
Li, representatives ofOpenAIand attorneys and spokespersons for xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.OpenAIis not a defendant.
The complaint underscores the rivalry between Musk’s company andOpenAIand afierce battleamong tech companies for AI talent.
Musk, anOpenAIco-founder, hasseparately suedthe company and its CEO, Sam Altman, for allegedly deviating from its original mission to benefit humanity.OpenAIcountersued Muskin April for harassment.
Musk’s xAIfiled another lawsuitagainstOpenAIand Applein Texas on Monday for allegedly monopolizing the market for AI chatbots on Apple devices.
The new lawsuit said Li began working as an engineer for xAI last year, where he helped train and develop Grok. The company said Li took its trade secrets in July, shortly after accepting a job fromOpenAIand selling $7 million in xAI stock.
Musk’s startup said that the secrets could allowOpenAIto bolster ChatGPT with xAI’s “more innovative AI and imaginative features.”
The lawsuit said Li admitted to stealing company files and “covering his tracks” during a meeting on August 14, and that the company later found additional stolen material on his devices that he had not disclosed.
Musk’s AI company asked the court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages and a restraining order blocking Li’s move toOpenAI.