A week after being hit with a lawsuit from Musk’s xAI alleging secret theft, OpenAI has hit back with a formal court response and a motion to dismiss the case. OpenAI categorically denies xAI’s claims and accuses Musk of exploiting legal procedures to harass the company. OpenAI vowed to safeguard its employees and vowed not to be cowed by “bullying tactics.”

xAI had accused OpenAI of systematically luring away employees and stealing trade secrets in response to competitive pressure from Grok, leveling three charges: violating the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, intentionally interfering with economic expectancy, and breaching California’s unfair competition law. The accusations were tied to alleged secret theft incidents involving Xuechen Li, Jimmy Fraiture, and an unnamed former senior financial executive at xAI.

OpenAI refuted the “secret theft” claims for each individual, asserting that it had neither obtained, accessed, nor used xAI’s confidential information and that its recruitment practices adhered to legal and regulatory standards. Furthermore, OpenAI argued that xAI’s public naming of employees not implicated in leaking secrets amounted to malicious “doxxing” (the act of publicly revealing private personal information without consent) and requested the court to either dismiss the lawsuit or strike out irrelevant passages.

A hearing on the motion is set for November 18, with the date for the substantive trial still pending.