Musk's xAI sues engineer for allegedly taking secrets to OpenAI

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/musks-xai-sues-engineer-allegedly-taking-secrets-openai-2025-08-29/

https://archive.is/x91iQ

Aug 29 (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 rival OpenAI.

Musk's company said in the complaint filed 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 at OpenAI earlier this month.

Li, representatives of OpenAI and attorneys and spokespersons for xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday. OpenAI is not a defendant.

The complaint underscores the rivalry between Musk's company and OpenAI and a fierce battle among tech companies for AI talent.

Musk, an OpenAI co-founder, has separately sued the company and its CEO, Sam Altman, for allegedly deviating from its original mission to benefit humanity. OpenAI countersued Musk in April for harassment.

Musk's xAI filed another lawsuit against OpenAI and Apple (AAPL.O) in 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 from OpenAI and selling $7 million in xAI stock.

Musk's startup said that the secrets could allow OpenAI to 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 to OpenAI.

 

[Looney Troons]

It’s fun to laugh at this retard

 

[Terrifik]

https://x.com/XJosh/status/1961911796605816881

was about to make a post for ths

 

[tom123]

the jews of the orient strike again

The Japanese are the jews of the Orient.

 

[Terrifik]

hindsight post

 

[Big Shot]

I'm more surprised Jeetrok has anything worth stealing, performancewise it really isn't any better than open source models like deepseek and llama

 

[Bland Crumbs]

So OpenAI is going to become shitty Grok?

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

View attachment 7852481

https://x.com/XJosh/status/1961911796605816881

was about to make a post for ths

A Chinaman taking it to OpenAI rather than China is potentially a much better situation for Musk, since it's within legal reach.

 

[2ndBest]

Around chinks, you're gonna stink

 

[Spaz-12]

I don't care about AI
Null is gay.

 

[Terrifik]

I'm more surprised Jeetrok has anything worth stealing, performancewise it really isn't any better than open source models like deepseek and llama

one : its ai race if one is doing better than other people notice
2: musk has been gloating for months on the best ai rankings

https://x.com/SciTechera/status/1958578668386619456/photo/1

https://x.com/omooretweets/status/1960726780681376028

https://x.com/muskonomy/status/1948315392516280403/photo/1

....

A Chinaman taking it to OpenAI rather than China is potentially a much better situation for Musk, since it's within legal reach

OpenAi is middleman to send it over china.
china probably has the data & comb for ai lawsuit test.
...

 

[Suburban Bastard]

I'm more surprised Jeetrok has anything worth stealing, performancewise it really isn't any better than open source models like deepseek and llama

I imagine there’s always some insights, plus the idea knowing what your rival knows allows you to plan better.

But grok really doesn’t have much for it aside from it’s a discount chatGPT but significantly less censored. An actual uncensored ChatGPT tier model would be awesome, but we’ve yet to see any.

 

[Disaffected Coyote]

Suffer you faggot, should have just hired Americans!

 

[COME ON OUT YOU RAPIST]

This happens to every thing that trusts chinks. They are like a timeless filter for eccentric wealthy spergs; Evergrande, the reverse-merger scams, it goes on.

 

[CharlesBarkley]

“This time the chinks and jeets won’t fuck me” - Musk.

 

[Whiskey]

Does AI have any applications outside of making cool wallpaper and poor quality porn yet?

Hardly seems worth stealing.

 

[Exegesis]

So OpenAI is going to become shitty Grok?

To be fair, openAI does know what they are doing in regards to AI development, much more than whatever fuckass program Musk has for xAI.

 

[General Emílio Médici]

Amazing human capital there Elon, great work!

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

The Americans that grew up on football and sleepovers are laughing their way to the bank.

 

[Null]

Does AI have any applications outside of making cool wallpaper and poor quality porn yet?

Hardly seems worth stealing.

I would wager close to 90% of all programming is done with AI assistance right now.

 

[Barry Williams]

me chinese

me play joke

Me steal your entire company's trade secrets and sell them to the competition because I'm a CCP plant and you were fucking retarded to put me in a position where I had access to privileged information, you absolute goddamned idiot.