Elon Musk’s AI venture, xAI, has launched a lawsuit against OpenAI. It accuses the rival firm of luring employees to gain access to trade secrets and secure an unfair edge in the AI race.

Filed on 23rd September in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the complaint claims OpenAI targeted former xAI staff. They allegedly sought access to proprietary information, including source code and operational plans for xAI’s chatbot, Grok. It alleges these hires violated confidentiality agreements and other obligations.

The lawsuit highlights former engineer Xuechen Li as being involved in the alleged trade secret theft. Additionally, a senior finance executive and former business engineer named Jimmy Fraiture were cited. Evidence includes emails showing attempts to recruit xAI employees.

Musk said on X that the lawsuit became necessary. This followed multiple warning letters to OpenAI that failed to stop the alleged misconduct.

This case adds to Musk’s ongoing legal disputes with OpenAI and former business partner Sam Altman. Earlier this year, he sued OpenAI and Apple over alleged anti-competitive practices. These include Apple’s preference for ChatGPT in its App Store.

Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 but left the board in 2018. In February, OpenAI rejected Musk’s $97.4-billion acquisition bid, calling it “an attempt to disrupt his competition.”

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