Tensions between two global artificial intelligence (AI) giants, OpenAI and xAI Corp., have entered a new chapter. OpenAI has officially requested that the court rule that the lawsuit filed by xAI—the company founded by Elon Musk—alleging trade secret theft lacks merit and should have been dismissed from the outset. In addition, OpenAI is demanding over $1 million in legal fee compensation, equivalent to around IDR 15.8 billion.
OpenAI took this legal step on Monday local time, just hours after xAI stated its commitment to file an appeal. Previously, the court had repeatedly rejected allegations from the Grok chatbot developer, which claimed that OpenAI engaged in illegal employee poaching and enticed them to leak confidential company information.
This legal battle is expected to continue rolling over the coming months. The momentum is considered highly crucial for OpenAI, which is currently preparing for an initial public offering (IPO). On the other hand, OpenAI is also facing other legal pressures, including a series of new lawsuits recently filed by Apple Inc.
OpenAI's legal counsel emphasized that xAI intentionally filed the lawsuit without strong evidence from the start. They accused xAI of using an aggressive legal strategy to fish for evidence later on, which ultimately forced OpenAI to expend significant financial and operational resources to counter the baseless accusations.
