Key Points
- OpenAI is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit from Elon Musk’s xAI.
- The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI is poaching employees to steal trade secrets.
- OpenAI denies the claims and calls the lawsuit part of Musk’s “ongoing harassment.”
- OpenAI claims that xAI is “hemorrhaging talent,” with employees leaving on their own.
OpenAI is asking a federal judge to throw out Elon Musk’s latest lawsuit, calling the case another example of the billionaire’s “ongoing harassment” of the company. The lawsuit, filed by Musk’s AI startup xAI, alleges that OpenAI is poaching employees to steal its trade secrets.
In its response, OpenAI flatly denied the allegations, calling them “false and unsubstantiated.” The company then went on the offensive, claiming that xAI is “hemorrhaging talent” and that employees are “leaving in droves” under Musk’s leadership. “Those employees have every right to go where they choose, and OpenAI has the right to hire them,” the company’s court filing stated.
The lawsuit, filed last week, alleged that OpenAI was hiring away xAI employees to gain access to the secrets behind its AI chatbot, Grok. Musk’s company claimed that Grok is more advanced than OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
This legal battle is just one part of a much larger, messy feud between Musk and OpenAI, a company he co-founded but later left. The fight comes as the competition in Silicon Valley for AI talent and market share has become incredibly fierce.
Musk is also suing OpenAI over its decision to become a for-profit company, and he has a separate lawsuit against Apple, accusing it of conspiring with OpenAI. For its part, OpenAI has countersued Musk for harassment.
