US Courts Dismiss Legal Challenges Against Elon Musk's xAI

A federal judge in San Francisco, Rita F. Lin, dismissed xAI’s lawsuit accusing OpenAI of stealing trade secrets, ruling the claim was unproven and barring the case from being refiled. The decision ends the dispute that began in September 2025 over alleged recruitment of a former xAI employee by OpenAI.

Separately, the U.S. Department of Justice intervened on behalf of xAI, seeking to throw out a civil suit filed by the NAACP and other groups against the company’s AI data center in Southaven, Mississippi. The plaintiffs allege violations of the Clean Air Act from turbines and a power plant that emit nitrogen oxides, fine particles and formaldehyde. The DOJ argues the facility is essential for national security and the development of critical AI models, and that the lawsuit threatens to undermine these priorities.