On August 30, 2025, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, initiated legal proceedings against former engineer Xuechen Li in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit accuses Li of stealing trade secrets. Li, who was awarded a Meta Fellowship during his doctoral studies and previously worked at Google and Microsoft, joined xAI shortly thereafter but left the company to join OpenAI. Remarkably, Li's cumulative professional experience in these roles does not surpass four years. This legal action has garnered significant attention within the industry.