x AI is chasing after Apple, and Open AI is caught in a trade secret theft scandal
OpenAI has asked a judge to rule that xAI Corp. The trade secret theft lawsuit filed against it "should never have existed" and seeks to recover more than $1 million in legal fees from the Elon Musk-owned company. The AI startup's request on Monday came hours after xAI announced plans to appeal the repeatedly dismissed charges that OpenAI poached employees and encouraged them to steal confidential information. This means that as OpenAI prepares for an IPO in the coming months, its legal dispute with xAI may continue for several months, and in the meantime, The company also launched a blockbuster lawsuit on Friday, making similar accusations against OpenAI. OpenAI’s lawyers wrote: “xAI first sued OpenAI and then sought evidence, forcing OpenAI to expend significant resources to rebut xAI’s broad and aggressive trade secret claims that were not supported by any evidence.” Lawyers for xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In February, a federal judge in San Francisco initially dismissed xAI's lawsuit, saying the company had failed to prove any wrongdoing by OpenAI and simply pointed out that eight former xAI employees had defected to OpenAI around the same time. After failing to apply for a six-month extension, xAI filed an amended complaint in March. In June, U.S. District Judge Rita Lin dismissed the lawsuit again, saying the new allegations — including claims that OpenAI asked new employees to talk about past jobs — sought to paint a "routine" part of the hiring process as a nefarious trick to induce the theft of trade secrets. Apple is seeking financial damages, as well as a court order ordering OpenAI to stop what Apple says is illegal and destroy all proprietary materials. Obtaining legal relief can take months or even years. In response to Apple's lawsuit, OpenAI said it had "no interest in other companies' trade secrets" and would "continue to focus on developing innovative technologies."