Elon Musk-owned xAI lawsuit is 'harassment', OpenAI asks court to dismiss it

OpenAI has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk 's xAI , calling the trade secret case part of Musk's “ongoing harassment” of the company. The move essentially escalates the legal and talent battle between the two leading artificial intelligence (AI) firms.

“Under Musk’s leadership, talented xAI employees are leaving in droves, and some are coming to OpenAI to help advance OpenAI’s mission," OpenAI said in a filing.

“Those employees have every right to go where they choose, and OpenAI has the right to hire them,” the filing added.


OpenAI characterised xAI's trade-secret lawsuit as an attempt to intimidate the company and “distract from the failures of [Musk's] own competitive AI effort.”

“The truth is that xAI is hemorrhaging talent to other competitors, including OpenAI,” it added.

Why Musk’s xAI filed a lawsuit against OpenAI
xAI filed its lawsuit last week in San Francisco federal court, alleging that OpenAI engaged in a "deeply troubling pattern" of luring away former xAI employees to gain access to trade secrets related to its advanced AI chatbot, Grok, claiming it is more advanced than OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The trade secret dispute is the latest development in a broader legal conflict between Musk and OpenAI, which he co-founded with CEO Sam Altman .

Musk is separately suing OpenAI over its conversion to a for-profit entity, and OpenAI has countersued Musk for harassment.

Additionally, xAI is involved in another lawsuit, having sued Apple for allegedly conspiring with OpenAI to suppress rival platforms, which both Apple and OpenAI denied this week.