A federal judge has permanently thrown out a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, which had accused rival OpenAI — led by Sam Altman — of stealing its trade secrets.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, presiding in San Francisco, ruled that xAI failed to demonstrate that OpenAI encouraged a former xAI engineer named Xuechen Li to improperly take trade secrets. The judge also found no evidence that Li revealed any xAI trade secrets during a presentation he made while OpenAI was in the process of recruiting him.
Judge Lin dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning xAI cannot refile it. She described any attempt to continue the legal battle as “futile.” This was not the first time the case was thrown out — Lin had already dismissed an earlier version of the complaint back in February.
The lawsuit was originally filed last September. It alleged that former xAI employees walked out the door with confidential company information, including source code connected to the Grok chatbot, when they departed for positions at OpenAI.
The xAI company operates as part of Musk’s broader enterprise that also includes the rocket, satellite, and AI firm SpaceX.
Attorneys representing xAI had not responded to requests for comment at the time of reporting.
