According to the British Guardian, Elon Mask’s artificial intelligence company XAI has recently filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court against the competitor Openai for the systematic exploitation of the business secrets of his AI chat robot Grok by former employees, marking a further escalation of the legal conflict between Mask and former partner Sam Altmann.
The petition alleges that OpenAI had a “deeply disturbing pattern of behaviour” and that it had acquired core technology and business plans, such as the source code and the operating advantages of the data centre, through the recruitment of XAI former staff. “OpenAI directs excavators with xAI key technology and induces them to violate confidentiality agreements by illegal means”, the indictment states. In addition to former engineer Li Xiaomei, who had previously been singled out, the latest allegations concerned former engineer Jimmy Fraiture and an unnamed senior finance manager. “This is the latest chapter of the ongoing harassment in Mask and we will not tolerate any breach of confidentiality agreements, nor will we be interested in the commercial secrets of other laboratories.” The e-mail disclosed in the Tribunal’s documents indicated that XAI counsel, Alex Spiro, had written to a former executive alleging non-compliance, and that the other party had responded only “suck my dick”.
The dispute between Mask and Altman dates back to the OpenAI period, which was created jointly in 2015. In 2018, Mask left after unsuccessfully fighting for control, and in recent years Altmann was repeatedly accused of violating the OpenAI founding agreement “to fight for human well-being”. OpenAI, on the other hand, indicated that Mask had supported the profit model in the early years and that the current allegations were jealous of revenge. It is worth noting that this suit coincided with a fierce competition in Silicon Valley over AI talent and market shares. The disputed mail traffic referred to in the petition, as well as the open confrontation between the two sides on social media, highlighted the heat of competition in the area of artificial intelligence. Last month, Mask also jointly sued Openai and Apple for the existence of a monopoly.
With technology giants such as Meta, the legal dispute involving top-of-the-art laboratories, not only reflects industry’s protection anxiety over core technology, but also reveals the harsh reality of a multi-billion-dollar class-AI market competition.
