Elon Musk has confirmed in court that his AI company xAI used OpenAI’s models while developing its own chatbot, Grok.
The statement came during an ongoing legal battle between Musk and OpenAI, where he is accusing the company of abandoning its original nonprofit mission.
The key topic discussed in court was something called “model distillation.” This is a common AI technique where a larger, more advanced model is used to train a smaller one, making it faster and cheaper to run. Musk admitted that xAI had done this “partly,” describing it as a normal practice across the AI industry.
However, the issue becomes controversial when companies use competitors’ models without permission. OpenAI and other major AI firms have raised concerns that such practices could cross ethical or legal boundaries, especially if it violates usage terms or involves intellectual property.
The revelation adds a new twist to the high-profile trial. Musk has been arguing that OpenAI shifted away from its original goal of building safe AI for public benefit and instead became profit-driven. At the same time, his own admission about using OpenAI’s technology highlights how complex and competitive the AI space has become.
Model distillation itself is not illegal, but it sits in a gray area where industry norms, platform rules, and legal limits are still evolving. As AI companies race to build more powerful systems, this case could shape how future AI models are trained and what counts as fair use in the industry.
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