Judge dismisses xAI's trade-secret lawsuit against OpenAI
US District Judge Rita Lin dismissed xAI’s trade-secret suit against OpenAI on June 15, ruling that the company failed to show OpenAI induced former xAI engineer Xuechen Li to hand over confidential information or that OpenAI knew of any such disclosure. The dismissal was entered with prejudice, meaning the claim cannot be refiled.
xAI, the AI company Musk founded, had alleged that OpenAI obtained source code and other confidential material tied to its Grok chatbot via employees who left for OpenAI. The case centered on a presentation Li gave during OpenAI’s recruitment process; Lin found that asking job candidates to discuss past work is routine and does not, on its own, support an inference that OpenAI pressured anyone to leak secrets.
The ruling marks Musk’s second courtroom setback against OpenAI in a matter of weeks. A separate xAI lawsuit against Li personally continues, and he has denied wrongdoing; OpenAI has maintained it never acquired xAI’s trade secrets.