In a new development of the ongoing legal battle between Elon Musk and OpenAI, the latter issued an official statement on October 5, 2025, responding to the lawsuit filed by xAI earlier. xAI had accused OpenAI of anticompetitive practices and stealing trade secrets, claiming that the company had hired employees from xAI to steal its trade secrets for developing its own AI models.
In its response, OpenAI described Musk's lawsuit as "the latest form of harassment disguised as a legal case," emphasizing that the company does not need and does not want trade secrets from anyone – let alone xAI – to achieve its mission. The company argued that Musk's allegations were driven by personal interests and accused him of attempting to intimidate and bully OpenAI employees through the lawsuit.
On the other hand, OpenAI clarified that it had not unlawfully poached employees from xAI and that most of the employees who had joined OpenAI did so legally. Furthermore, OpenAI pointed out that the claim that some employees left xAI due to Grok – xAI’s AI system – allegedly posting antisemitic content, including referring to itself as “MechaHitler,” was inaccurate.
The tensions between OpenAI and Musk are not new, as the relationship between the two parties has been fraught since Musk was one of OpenAI's co-founders. The situation worsened recently after xAI focused its efforts on developing its own AI models, competing with OpenAI’s products like ChatGPT. xAI also previously filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging that ChatGPT was being given preferential treatment in the App Store, calling it an unfair competitive practice.
Musk had earlier stated that OpenAI’s shift to a for-profit model conflicted with its original charter, claiming that it now served the interests of investors rather than the public.
This legal battle seems far from over, with both OpenAI and xAI continuing to file legal challenges and exchange accusations over their practices in the fiercely competitive AI market.
