Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI has filed a lawsuit against rival OpenAI in a California federal court, accusing it of stealing trade secrets to gain an unfair advantage in the race to develop AI technology.

Court documents filed Wednesday allege OpenAI engaged in a “deeply troubling pattern” of poaching former xAI employees to obtain trade secrets related to its AI chatbot Grok. The complaint states, “OpenAI targeted individuals possessing critical xAI technology and business plans—including xAI's source code and operational advantages in launching data centers—then unlawfully induced these employees to breach their confidentiality and other obligations to xAI.”

An OpenAI spokesperson denied the allegations in a statement Thursday, calling the lawsuit “part of Mr. Musk's ongoing harassment of the company.”

xAI said it uncovered this alleged campaign to undermine the company after filing charges against former engineer Li for stealing trade secrets. In a separate lawsuit, xAI accuses Li of bringing confidential information to ChatGPT's creator (OpenAI).

Li has not yet responded to these allegations.

xAI also separately sued Apple in federal court, alleging collusion with OpenAI to suppress competing platforms. Apple has not yet responded to this lawsuit.

Musk has also sued OpenAI over its transition to a for-profit entity, while OpenAI countersued Musk.

According to the complaint, OpenAI poached other former xAI engineers and a senior finance executive alongside Li to obtain xAI's trade secrets.