Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI has filed a lawsuit against a former engineer, accusing him of stealing trade secrets linked to the company’s AI chatbot, Grok, and passing them to rival firm OpenAI.

According to reports, the lawsuit was filed two days ago in a California federal court. The engineer, Shuchen Li, allegedly stole confidential information about advanced AI technologies that xAI claims could outperform ChatGPT.

Court documents state that Li joined xAI last year, contributing to the development and training of Grok. However, in July, after accepting a position at OpenAI and selling his xAI shares for $7 million, he allegedly misappropriated trade secrets.

xAI claims that Li’s actions provided OpenAI with access to cutting-edge technology, undermining the integrity of Musk’s AI venture. The company asserts that the stolen information could give OpenAI an unfair competitive advantage in the race for AI dominance.

This legal battle highlights the intensifying rivalry between Elon Musk and OpenAI, a company he co-founded but later distanced himself from due to disagreements over its direction.