Elon Musk's xAI company has filed a lawsuit against its former engineer, Syuchen Li, in a California federal court. The company accuses him of stealing trade secrets related to its Grok chatbot and transferring them to OpenAI.
According to court documents, Li took documents related to xAI's confidential artificial intelligence technology before starting work at OpenAI in July 2025. The lawsuit claims this technology possesses superior capabilities to ChatGPT. In a meeting on August 14, Li admitted to stealing the documents and “attempting to cover his tracks.”
Subsequent investigations revealed additional undisclosed materials on his devices. xAI claims these secrets could provide OpenAI's ChatGPT model with “more innovative artificial intelligence and creative functions.”
The lawsuit seeks financial compensation and a court injunction to restrict Li's activities at OpenAI. The incident once again highlights the intense competition between xAI and OpenAI for talented personnel and technology in the field of artificial intelligence.
Farid Alizade