In a dramatic escalation of the AI talent wars, Elon Musk 's artificial intelligence startup, xAI , has reportedly filed a lawsuit against a former engineer, accusing him of stealing confidential trade secrets related to its Grok chatbot and taking them to rival OpenAI . The complaint, filed last week in a California federal court, names Xuechen Li , a Chinese national, who worked as an engineer at xAI, as the defendant. The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a restraining order to prevent Li from joining OpenAI.
What xAI's lawsuit against the engineer claims
According to the lawsuit, Li stole "cutting-edge AI technologies" with features that are "superior to those offered by ChatGPT," intending to use them in his new role at OpenAI. According to xAI's complaint, Li began working for the company last year, where he played a key role in developing and training the Grok chatbot. The lawsuit claims Li took confidential information in July, shortly after accepting a job offer from OpenAI and selling $7 million in xAI stock.
xAI alleges that these stolen secrets could allow OpenAI to enhance its ChatGPT with Grok's "more innovative AI and imaginative features." It adds that it could save OpenAI and other competitors billions in research and development dollars and years of effort, the lawsuit states.
The complaint also claims that Li admitted to stealing company files and attempting to "cover his tracks" during a meeting on August 14. xAI says it later discovered additional stolen material on his devices that he had not disclosed.
Xuechen Li sold xAI shares days before leaving
The lawsuit alleges that after Li persuaded xAI to liquidate $2.2 million worth of his xAI shares, in addition to $4.7 million he received earlier in the summer, he “willfully and maliciously” copied documents from his xAI-issued laptop onto at least one personal system the same day that his roughly $7 million in cash became available.
A Chinese national, Xuechen Li lives in Mountain View. He reportedly earned his doctorate in computer science from Stanford and joined xAI in early 2024. He is said to be among roughly 20 early engineers working on the company’s Grok model, which granted him broad access to xAI’s proprietary information.
What xAI's lawsuit against the engineer claims
According to the lawsuit, Li stole "cutting-edge AI technologies" with features that are "superior to those offered by ChatGPT," intending to use them in his new role at OpenAI. According to xAI's complaint, Li began working for the company last year, where he played a key role in developing and training the Grok chatbot. The lawsuit claims Li took confidential information in July, shortly after accepting a job offer from OpenAI and selling $7 million in xAI stock.
xAI alleges that these stolen secrets could allow OpenAI to enhance its ChatGPT with Grok's "more innovative AI and imaginative features." It adds that it could save OpenAI and other competitors billions in research and development dollars and years of effort, the lawsuit states.
The complaint also claims that Li admitted to stealing company files and attempting to "cover his tracks" during a meeting on August 14. xAI says it later discovered additional stolen material on his devices that he had not disclosed.
Xuechen Li sold xAI shares days before leaving
The lawsuit alleges that after Li persuaded xAI to liquidate $2.2 million worth of his xAI shares, in addition to $4.7 million he received earlier in the summer, he “willfully and maliciously” copied documents from his xAI-issued laptop onto at least one personal system the same day that his roughly $7 million in cash became available.
A Chinese national, Xuechen Li lives in Mountain View. He reportedly earned his doctorate in computer science from Stanford and joined xAI in early 2024. He is said to be among roughly 20 early engineers working on the company’s Grok model, which granted him broad access to xAI’s proprietary information.
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