A former developer at Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence business xAI is being sued for allegedly stealing trade secrets associated with the company’s Grok chatbot and transferring them to rival OpenAI. According to the complaint Musk’s business filed in federal court in California on Thursday, Xuechen Li brought sensitive data about “cutting-edge AI technologies with features superior to those offered by ChatGPT” to his new position at OpenAI earlier this month.
Requests for response on Friday were not immediately answered by Li, OpenAI reps, or xAI lawyers and spokespersons. The defendant is not OpenAI. The case highlights the intense competition among tech companies for AI talent as well as the rivalry between Musk’s company and OpenAI. Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, has filed a second lawsuit against the business and its CEO, Sam Altman, alleging that they have strayed from the company’s initial goal of helping people. In April, OpenAI filed a countersuit against Musk for harassment. On Monday, Musk’s xAI filed a second lawsuit in Texas against Apple and OpenAI for purportedly controlling the market for AI chatbots on Apple products.
According to the latest lawsuit, Li joined xAI last year as an engineer and assisted in the development and training of Grok. The business claimed that Li stole its trade secrets in July, just after selling $7 million worth of xAI stock and taking a position at OpenAI.
In a meeting on August 14, Li allegedly acknowledged to stealing company files and “covering his tracks.” The lawsuit also claimed that the company discovered more stolen material on Li’s devices that he had failed to report.
Musk’s AI business requested a restraining order to prevent Li from switching to OpenAI as well as an undisclosed sum of money damages from the court.
