xAI, founded by Elon Musk, recently suffered a major trade secret leak. Its entire codebase was stolen by a former core member, Xuechen Li. xAI has filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of California federal court, alleging four counts, including breach of confidentiality. The lawsuit seeks to bar Li from joining competitors like OpenAI and the return of all stolen data.
The incident began on July 28, three days before Li's resignation. He uploaded a large amount of company data to his personal system and even cashed out xAI shares before leaving, making a $7 million profit. Despite signing a pledge to return the assets, Li obstructed the company's data recovery by changing his account passwords. After xAI's security system detected an anomaly on August 11, Li not only refused to cooperate but also concealed critical information in the presence of his lawyer. It's worth noting that Li joined OpenAI on August 19, and the "cutting-edge technology surpassing ChatGPT" that xAI accuses him of stealing could save competitors billions in research and development costs.
A Stanford computer science PhD and former Google and Microsoft intern, Li's academic background stands in stark contrast to his actions. This case has sparked controversy over whether OpenAI was knowingly involved. As the judicial process progresses, this case involving the core competitiveness of the AI industry will continue to weigh on the nerves of the technology community.
