New Delhi: US federal court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI against rival OpenAI, marking the latest twist in an escalating legal battle between the two companies. The case centred on claims that OpenAI poached employees from xAI to gain access to trade secrets linked to Grok, Musk’s flagship chatbot.
In a ruling issued Tuesday, US District Judge Rita Lin found that the complaint failed to present concrete evidence of wrongdoing by OpenAI. While the judge granted xAI an opportunity to amend its filing, the decision delivers an early courtroom win for OpenAI in a feud that continues to intensify.
Court finds lack of specific allegations
The lawsuit further claimed that OpenAI employed eight former xAI employees as part of a plot to gain confidential information. Judge Lin, however, claimed that the complaint failed to specify any unjust practices by OpenAI as an organisation.
The court observed that the time employees left their jobs was not sufficient to prove any allegations of trade secret thefts. The court stated that xAI failed to demonstrate the facts that OpenAI promoted employees to steal proprietary information or use such a substance upon hiring them.
Deadline to revise complaint
Although the court threw out the case, it granted xAI up to 17 March to submit a revised complaint to the court that would address the gaps. This will provide the company led by Musk with an opportunity to further consolidate its accusations using more specific evidence.
In case xAI does not offer more convincing claims, the suit may be dismissed forever. In the meantime, the conflict is not resolved yet.
Growing rift between Musk and Altman
The legal confrontation is another reason to mention why there are tensions between Elon Musk and the OpenAI chief executive, Sam Altman. In 2015, the two founded OpenAI but ended up splitting.
Over the last few months, the conflict has grown into several lawsuits. Musk has alleged that OpenAI has ditched its nonprofit business model in favour of making profits. OpenAI is experiencing counter-suits on the grounds of a long history of harassment. In another similar case, the second will be tried in April.
The dismissal was celebrated in an announcement by OpenAI, who did not reply at once. It is now up to the team of Musk.