OpenAI filed a motion on Thursday asking a federal judge in San Francisco in California, to dismiss the lawsuit claiming it lured staff from billionaire Elon Musk’s Artificial Intelligence startup, xAI, to steal trade secrets, describing the legal action as part of Musk’s “ongoing harassment.”
OpenAI denied xAI’s allegations, saying its claims were false and unsubstantiated, Reuters reported.
Read Also
“Under Musk’s leadership, talented xAI employees are leaving in droves, and some are coming to OpenAI to help advance OpenAI’s mission,” the filing said. “Those employees have every right to go where they choose, and OpenAI has the right to hire them.”
Spokespeople and an attorney for xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the filings. A spokesperson for OpenAI declined to comment.
Earlier last week, xAI filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco, alleging that OpenAI engaged in a “deeply troubling pattern” of hiring away former xAI employees to gain access to trade secrets related to its AI chatbot Grok, which it said was more advanced than OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The lawsuit is part of a broader legal battle between Musk and OpenAI, which he co-founded alongside OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, amid a high-stakes race in Silicon Valley for talent and to gain market share in the burgeoning AI industry.
In a separate legal action, xAI has filed suit against Apple, claiming the tech giant is conspiring with OpenAI to stifle competing platforms. Both Apple and OpenAI denied these allegations and, on Tuesday, filed a joint motion asking the court to dismiss the case.
Musk is also suing OpenAI over its conversion to a for-profit company, while OpenAI has countersued Musk for harassment.
OpenAI on Thursday called xAI’s trade-secret lawsuit an attempt to intimidate OpenAI and “distract from the failures of [Musk’s] own competitive AI effort.”
“The truth is that xAI is haemorrhaging talent to other competitors, including OpenAI,” OpenAI said.
