According to Reuters, Elon Musk's AI startup company xAI has filed a lawsuit against a former engineer Xuechen Li in the US federal court in California, accusing him of stealing the company's core trade secrets and joining the competitor OpenAI after leaving the company.
xAI stated in the lawsuit that Xuechen Li joined the company last year and was deeply involved in the training and development of the Grok chatbot. In July this year, after accepting an offer from OpenAI, Li sold his shares in xAI worth $7 million (approximately 49.9 million RMB).
xAI further accused Li of downloading a large amount of confidential information related to the Grok project shortly before and after leaving the company, and attempting to cover up his actions. This act was seen by xAI as a serious infringement on its core technology, and legal measures have been taken to hold him accountable.
This lawsuit reveals the increasingly fierce competition in the AI industry and the potential risks of trade secrets behind talent mobility. The tense relationship between Musk and OpenAI has existed for a long time, and this incident is undoubtedly taking their competition to a new level.
