Elon Musk Sues Former Engineer for Leaking "Grok" Secrets

The startup "xAI" in the field of artificial intelligence, owned by businessman Elon Musk, has filed a lawsuit against a former engineer accusing him of stealing trade secrets related to the chat robot "Grok" and transferring them to the competing company "OpenAI".

The lawsuit, which was filed two days ago in a federal court in California, states that the former employee "Shiu-Chin Li" stole confidential information related to "advanced artificial intelligence technologies with features that surpass those offered by ChatGPT", intending to use it in his new job at "OpenAI" at the beginning of this month.

The lawsuit documents clarified that Li, who worked as an engineer at "xAI" last year and contributed to training and developing "Grok", seized the trade secrets last July, shortly after accepting a job offer at "OpenAI" and sold his shares in Musk's company for $7 million.

The company warned that these stolen secrets could give "OpenAI" an unfair advantage, as they "may allow the company OpenAI to enhance ChatGPT with features of xAI 'the most innovative and creative artificial intelligence'".

The lawsuit also revealed that Li admitted to stealing company files and "covering his tracks" during a meeting held on August 14, while subsequent investigations found additional stolen materials on his personal devices that were not disclosed. "xAI" requested the court to grant it "unspecified financial compensation and a restraining order preventing Li from moving to OpenAI", according to what was reported by Reuters.

On the other hand, Li and his legal representatives declined to comment on the case, and "OpenAI" did not comment on the lawsuit.

This case highlights the intensity of competition between Elon Musk and "OpenAI", within the broader battle among technology giants to attract talent and expertise in the field of artificial intelligence.

This dispute comes in the context of a historical backdrop of disagreements, as Musk, one of the original founders of "OpenAI", had previously filed a separate lawsuit against the company and its CEO Sam Altman, claiming it had deviated from its original mission of benefiting humanity. "OpenAI" had in turn responded by filing a counter-suit against Musk last April.