Elon Musk’s synthetic intelligence enterprise, xAI, has launched authorized motion towards a former worker accused of stealing delicate details about its Grok chatbot and passing it to rival OpenAI.

Particulars of the lawsuit

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in a California federal court docket, claims that engineerXuechen Li misappropriated confidential knowledge on “cutting-edge AI applied sciences with options surpassing ChatGPT” earlier than becoming a member of OpenAI earlier this month.

Li’s position at xAI

In keeping with the grievance, Li joined xAI final yr and performed a key position in growing and coaching Grok, the corporate’s conversational AI. The go well with alleges he downloaded commerce secrets and techniques in July, simply after agreeing to a place at OpenAI and cashing out $7 million in xAI inventory.

xAI additional claims Li admitted throughout a gathering on 14 August to taking firm recordsdata and trying to hide his actions, although investigators later uncovered further undisclosed materials on his gadgets. The corporate argues the data might give OpenAI a bonus in enhancing ChatGPT with xAI’s extra imaginative options.

OpenAI has not been named as a defendant within the case. Neither Li nor representatives for the 2 corporations have commented publicly on the matter.

Broader rivalry with OpenAI

The authorized conflict highlights each the intensifying competitors for prime AI expertise and the private rivalry between Musk and OpenAI, which he co-founded in 2015. Musk is already engaged in separate litigation towards OpenAI and its chief government, Sam Altman, accusing them of straying from the corporate’s authentic non-profit mission. OpenAI has filed a countersuit, describing Musk’s actions as harassment.

Earlier this week, xAI additionally sued OpenAI and Apple in Texas, alleging the 2 corporations are working to monopolise AI companies on Apple gadgets.

Within the newest submitting, xAI is in search of unspecified damages and a court docket order stopping Li from taking over his position at OpenAI.

(With inputs from Reuters)