OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (L), and Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Reuters
Elon Musk’s synthetic intelligence startup xAI has sued a former engineer on the firm for allegedly stealing commerce secrets associated to its Grok chatbot and taking them to rival OpenAI.
Musk’s firm said in the complaint filed on Thursday in California federal courtroom that Xuechen Li stole confidential info associated to “cutting-edge AI technologies with features superior to those offered by ChatGPT” to convey to his new job at OpenAI earlier this month.
Li, representatives of OpenAI and attorneys and spokespersons for xAI didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon Friday. OpenAI will not be a defendant.
The grievance underscores the rivalry between Musk’s firm and OpenAI and a fierce battle amongst tech corporations for AI expertise.
Musk, an OpenAI co-founder, has individually sued the corporate and its CEO, Sam Altman, for allegedly deviating from its unique mission to profit humanity. OpenAI countersued Musk in April for harassment.
Musk’s xAI filed one other lawsuit in opposition to OpenAI and Apple in Texas on Monday for allegedly monopolizing the market for AI chatbots on Apple gadgets.
The new lawsuit mentioned Li started working as an engineer for xAI final yr, the place he helped prepare and develop Grok. The firm mentioned Li took its commerce secrets in July, shortly after accepting a job from OpenAI and promoting $7 million in xAI inventory.
Musk’s startup mentioned that the secrets may permit OpenAI to bolster ChatGPT with xAI’s “more innovative AI and imaginative features.”
The lawsuit mentioned Li admitted to stealing firm information and “covering his tracks” throughout a gathering on August 14, and that the corporate later discovered extra stolen materials on his gadgets that he had not disclosed.
Musk’s AI firm requested the courtroom for an unspecified quantity of financial damages and a restraining order blocking Li’s transfer to OpenAI.