OpenAI accuses xAI of erasing crucial evidence in new court filing
03 Feb 2026, 12:56 PMOpenAI also states in the filing that xAI was not able to provide them with documents offering conclusive proof that OpenAI's partnership with Apple gave competitors an unfair disadvantage in the market.
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OpenAI has made a court filing accusing Elon Musk's xAI of intentionally erasing evidence crucial to the antitrust lawsuit filed by xAI last August, media reports said.
xAI had filed an antitrust lawsuit last year against Open AI and Apple for embedding OpenAI's ChatGPT directly into Apple devices. xAI argued that this partnership gave OpenAI an unfair advantage over other AI chatbots, including xAI's Grok.
The ChatGPT maker, in the court filing made on Monday, has accused xAI of destroying internal communications crucial to the lawsuit, and asking employees to use messaging tools that auto-delete messages. It says that the xAI had a duty to maintain these records, and the loss of crucial records puts OpenAI and other defendants at a disadvantage.
OpenAI also states in the filing that xAI was not able to provide them with documents offering conclusive proof that OpenAI's partnership with Apple gave competitors an unfair disadvantage in the market.
The latest development is a build up to the long drawn dispute between Musk and OpenAI's Sam Altman.
Musk was once a co-founder and co-chair of OpenAI but fell out with the AI startup to roll out his own AI division. In 2024, Musk sued OpenAI and its co-founders Altman and Greg Brockman, and its affiliated entities, for breaching the contract to stay non-profit.
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