A US judge signals she may dismiss Elon Musk’s xAI lawsuit accusing OpenAI of stealing trade secrets, with a hearing set for February 3.
SAN FRANCISCO: A federal judge has indicated she may dismiss a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, against rival OpenAI.
US District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco said her “tentative view” is to grant OpenAI’s motion to dismiss the trade secrets case.
Lin stated xAI could amend its claims if she dismisses the lawsuit following oral arguments scheduled for February 3.
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xAI sued OpenAI in September, accusing it of hiring away xAI employees to obtain confidential information related to the AI chatbot Grok.
OpenAI countered by accusing Musk of conducting a “campaign to harass a competitor with unfounded legal claims” because xAI could not keep up with ChatGPT.
In a filing, Judge Lin said Musk’s startup did not plausibly allege that OpenAI acquired or encouraged the theft of trade secrets.
The filing addressed allegations that some former xAI employees downloaded source code before leaving the company.
Lin also said it was not plausible to infer that OpenAI used xAI’s trade secrets or that former employees used them after joining OpenAI.
The judge may also dismiss an unfair competition claim from the lawsuit.
Lin asked both parties to address her tentative reasoning at the upcoming hearing.
The lawsuit is part of a broader legal battle between Musk and OpenAI, which he co-founded.
Musk is separately suing OpenAI over its conversion to a for-profit company.
In that case, Musk is seeking as much as USD 134.5 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft.
Jury selection for that separate lawsuit is scheduled for April 27.
Lawyers for xAI and OpenAI were not immediately available for comment. – Reuters
