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Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI, has filed a lawsuit against its rival, OpenAI, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Filed on Wednesday, 23 September, the lawsuit alleges that OpenAI engaged in a "deeply troubling pattern" of hiring former xAI employees to gain access to trade secrets related to its chatbot, Grok.
The complaint further claims that OpenAI sought unfair advantages in the race to develop AI technology. It asserts that OpenAI unlawfully induced these employees to breach their confidentiality agreements and other obligations to xAI.
“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 centres, then inducing those employees to breach their confidentiality and other obligations to xAI through unlawful means,” the lawsuit states.
This marks the latest in Musk’s legal campaign against his former business partner, Sam Altman, following several lawsuits against OpenAI in recent years.
The most recent complaint alleges that xAI discovered the purported plot while investigating claims of trade secret theft by former engineer Xuechen Li, whom it has accused of stealing confidential information from the ChatGPT maker in a separate lawsuit.
In addition to Li, the complaint claims that OpenAI hired an unidentified senior finance executive and former business engineer, Jimmy Fraiture, with the intent of obtaining xAI trade secrets. It also included a screenshot of an email sent in July to a former xAI executive, received by Alex Spiro, Musk’s and xAI’s lawyer, accusing the individual of violating their confidentiality agreements.
In response to a post on X about the lawsuit, Musk wrote, “We sent them many warning letters, but they continued to cheat. Lawsuit was the only option after exhausting all others.”
Musk, who is involved in numerous lawsuits both as a plaintiff and a defendant, sued OpenAI and Apple last month over alleged anti-competitive behaviour and Apple’s preference for ChatGPT in its App Store. The suit claims that his competitors engaged in “a conspiracy to monopolise the markets for smartphones and generative AI chatbots.”
Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015, but Musk left the board in 2018 after an unsuccessful bid to gain control of the organisation. In February, OpenAI rejected Musk’s $97.4 billion offer to acquire the nonprofit company. Taking to X, OpenAI Board Chair Bret Taylor described Musk’s bid as “an attempt to disrupt his competition.” He added, “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition.”
The complaint further claims that OpenAI sought unfair advantages in the race to develop AI technology. It asserts that OpenAI unlawfully induced these employees to breach their confidentiality agreements and other obligations to xAI.
“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 centres, then inducing those employees to breach their confidentiality and other obligations to xAI through unlawful means,” the lawsuit states.
This marks the latest in Musk’s legal campaign against his former business partner, Sam Altman, following several lawsuits against OpenAI in recent years.
The most recent complaint alleges that xAI discovered the purported plot while investigating claims of trade secret theft by former engineer Xuechen Li, whom it has accused of stealing confidential information from the ChatGPT maker in a separate lawsuit.
In addition to Li, the complaint claims that OpenAI hired an unidentified senior finance executive and former business engineer, Jimmy Fraiture, with the intent of obtaining xAI trade secrets. It also included a screenshot of an email sent in July to a former xAI executive, received by Alex Spiro, Musk’s and xAI’s lawyer, accusing the individual of violating their confidentiality agreements.
In response to a post on X about the lawsuit, Musk wrote, “We sent them many warning letters, but they continued to cheat. Lawsuit was the only option after exhausting all others.”
We
sent them many warning letters, but they continued to cheat. Lawsuit was the only option after exhausting all others.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 25, 2025
Musk, who is involved in numerous lawsuits both as a plaintiff and a defendant, sued OpenAI and Apple last month over alleged anti-competitive behaviour and Apple’s preference for ChatGPT in its App Store. The suit claims that his competitors engaged in “a conspiracy to monopolise the markets for smartphones and generative AI chatbots.”
Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015, but Musk left the board in 2018 after an unsuccessful bid to gain control of the organisation. In February, OpenAI rejected Musk’s $97.4 billion offer to acquire the nonprofit company. Taking to X, OpenAI Board Chair Bret Taylor described Musk’s bid as “an attempt to disrupt his competition.” He added, “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition.”
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