Elon Musk's xAI Sues OpenAI for Alleged Trade Secret Theft

Musk's xAI accuses rival OpenAI of stealing trade secrets

Sept 25 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI has sued rival OpenAI in California federal court for allegedly stealing its trade secrets to gain an unfair advantage in the race to develop AI technology. The lawsuit filed Wednesday, opens new tab said that OpenAI was engaged in a "deeply troubling pattern" of hiring away former xAI employees to gain access to trade secrets related to its AI chatbot Grok. "OpenAI is targeting those individuals with knowledge of xAI's key technologies and business plans -- including xAI's source code and its operational advantages in launching data centers -- then inducing those employees to breach their confidentiality and other obligations to xAI through unlawful means," the lawsuit said. Spokespeople for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the complaint on Thursday. Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Artificial Intelligence Blake Brittain Thomson Reuters Blake Brittain reports on intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, for Reuters Legal. He has previously written for Bloomberg Law and Thomson Reuters Practical Law and practiced as an attorney.

xAI accuses OpenAI of stealing its trade secrets in new lawsuit

Elon Musk's xAI is suing OpenAI, alleging that the ChatGPT maker has stolen its trade secrets. The lawsuit comes after the company recently sued , Xuechen Li, for allegedly stealing confidential information from the company before taking a job at OpenAI. In its latest lawsuit, which was reported by Sherwood, xAI says that Li's alleged actions are part of "a broader and deeply troubling pattern of trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, and intentional interference with economic relationships by OpenAI." According to xAI's lawyers, OpenAI also hired two other xAI employees who stole proprietary information from Musk's company. "Another early xAI engineer -- Jimmy Fraiture -- was also harvesting xAI's source code and airdropping it to his personal devices to take to OpenAI, where he now works," the states. "Meanwhile, a senior finance executive brought another piece of the puzzle to OpenAI -- xAI's 'secret sauce' of rapid data center deployment -- with no intention to abide by his legal obligations to xAI." OpenAI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. Musk, of course, has a complicated history with the ChatGPT maker, and this isn't the first time his rival AI company has sued OpenAI. Last month, xAI against OpenAI and Apple over Grok's placement on App Store charts. Musk alleged that ChatGPT rank in the top spot represented an "unequivocal antitrust violation." Musk has also filed numerous lawsuits against OpenAI over its relationship and its move to become a company.

Musk's xAI accuses rival OpenAI of stealing trade secrets in lawsuit

An illustration shows a 3D-printed miniature model of Elon Musk and the xAI logo. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters) Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company has accused rival OpenAI of stealing trade secrets with the help of employees it hired away in a new lawsuit. The xAI suit alleges that three former employees -- two engineers and a senior executive -- passed along source code and other business secrets after they went to work for OpenAI. It also claims there is a "strategic campaign" to undermine xAI, the AI start-up Musk formed in 2023 that also owns X, his social media network.

Elon Musk's xAI accuses OpenAI of stealing trade secrets in new lawsuit

Suit alleges OpenAI has a 'troubling pattern' of hiring former xAI workers to access secrets about the Grok chatbot Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI has accused rival OpenAI of stealing its trade secrets in a new lawsuit, the latest in Musk's legal assault on his former business partner, Sam Altman. The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in California federal court, alleged that OpenAI was engaged in a "deeply troubling pattern" of hiring away former xAI employees to gain access to trade secrets related to its AI chatbot Grok. The company says OpenAI is pursuing unfair advantages in the race to develop AI technology. "OpenAI is targeting those individuals with knowledge of xAI's key technologies and business plans, including xAI's source code and its operational advantages in launching data centers, then inducing those employees to breach their confidentiality and other obligations to xAI through unlawful means," the lawsuit states. Musk and xAI have launched numerous lawsuits against OpenAI in recent years as part of a longstanding feud between Altman and Musk. The relationship between the two has grown increasingly hostile as Altman and OpenAI's power in the tech industry has grown, with Musk previously attempting to block the AI startup's plans to convert to a for-profit enterprise. xAI's latest complaint claims it discovered the alleged campaign to undermine the company while investigating allegations of trade secret theft against former engineer Xuechen Li, whom it has individually accused of taking confidential information to the ChatGPT maker in a separate lawsuit. Li has not yet responded to the allegations. According to the complaint, OpenAI hired away former company engineer Jimmy Fraiture and an unnamed senior finance executive in addition to Li in order to obtain xAI trade secrets. Spokespeople for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the complaint on Thursday. The lawsuit also included a screenshot of an email sent in July by Alex Spiro, Musk and xAI's lawyer, to a former xAI executive accusing them of breaching their confidentiality obligations. The former employee, whose name is redacted in the screenshot, responded to Spiro with a one-line email that said "suck my dick". Before becoming OpenAI's legal nemesis, Musk co-founded the company with Altman in 2015, then departed in 2018 after a failed bid for control. Musk has accused Altman of breaking a "founding agreement" that OpenAI would work for the betterment of humanity, claiming that his pivot to partner with Microsoft and seek profits negates its principles. OpenAI and Altman have said that Musk previously supported a for-profit model and is retaliating out of jealousy. Musk, who is mired in a multitude of lawsuits both as a plaintiff and defendant, also sued OpenAI and Apple last month over accusations of anti-competitive behavior and Apple favoring ChatGPT in its app store. The suit claimed that his rivals engaged in "a conspiracy to monopolize the markets for smartphones and generative AI chatbots". Altman posted on X, Musk's social network, in response: "This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like." xAI's new lawsuit is part of a high-stakes competition in Silicon Valley to hire AI-related talent and gain market share in the burgeoning, multibillion-dollar industry. Companies such as Meta have thrown vast sums of money at AI researchers and executives in hopes that it will give them a competitive advantage in the race to build increasingly advanced AI models.

Musk's xAI accuses rival OpenAI of stealing trade secrets - The Economic Times

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI has sued rival OpenAI in California federal court for allegedly stealing its trade secrets to gain an unfair advantage in the race to develop AI technology. The lawsuit filed Wednesday said that OpenAI was engaged in a "deeply troubling pattern" of hiring away former xAI employees to gain access to trade secrets related to its AI chatbot Grok. "OpenAI is targeting those individuals with knowledge of xAI's key technologies and business plans-including xAI's source code and its operational advantages in launching data centers-then inducing those employees to breach their confidentiality and other obligations to xAI through unlawful means," the lawsuit said. Spokespeople for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the complaint on Thursday.

Musk's xAI accuses rival OpenAI of stealing trade secrets

(Reuters) -Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI has sued rival OpenAI in California federal court for allegedly stealing its trade secrets to gain an unfair advantage in the race to develop AI technology. The lawsuit filed Wednesday said that OpenAI was engaged in a "deeply troubling pattern" of hiring away former xAI employees to gain access to trade secrets related to its AI chatbot Grok. "OpenAI is targeting those individuals with knowledge of xAI's key technologies and business plans--including xAI's source code and its operational advantages in launching data centers--then inducing those employees to breach their confidentiality and other obligations to xAI through unlawful means," the lawsuit said. Spokespeople for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the complaint on Thursday. xAI said it discovered the alleged campaign to undermine the company while investigating allegations of trade secret theft against former engineer Xuechen Li, who it has accused of taking confidential information to the ChatGPT maker in a separate lawsuit. Li has not yet responded to the allegations. xAI has separately sued Apple in federal court for allegedly conspiring with OpenAI to suppress rival platforms. Apple has not yet responded to the lawsuit. Musk is also suing OpenAI over its conversion to a for-profit company, while OpenAI has countersued Musk for harassment. xAI's new lawsuit is part of a broader legal battle between Musk and OpenAI, which he co-founded, and underscores a high-stakes race in Silicon Valley to hire AI-related talent and gain market share in the burgeoning industry. According to the complaint, OpenAI hired away former company engineer Jimmy Fraiture and an unnamed senior finance executive in addition to Li in order to obtain xAI trade secrets. Fraiture, who is not a defendant in the complaint, could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Deepa Babington)