U.S. District Judge Rita Lin issued a final ruling dismissing xAI's trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI, explicitly prohibiting the company from refiling the case. The court determined that xAI failed to demonstrate that OpenAI instructed former senior engineer Li Xuechen to disclose Grok chatbot secrets or that OpenAI's technical staff were aware of any potential disclosure. The dispute originated from Li Xuechen presenting a PowerPoint during an interview, which xAI alleged was an attempt to extract Grok 4 model secrets.

However, Judge Lin ruled that inquiring about a candidate's past work experience is a standard industry practice, warning that classifying such discussions as infringement would expose all employers to undue legal risks.

This dismissal constitutes a second legal setback for xAI against OpenAI within a four-week period. Previously, a federal jury ruled against xAI in a separate lawsuit alleging that OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman had deviated from their non-profit mission. OpenAI maintained that Li Xuechen never joined the company and did not obtain any xAI secrets, while Li Xuechen has separately denied any misconduct.