The admission is a rare public acknowledgment by a major AI developer of a practice under growing scrutiny. It comes as Musk’s case against OpenAI moves forward in federal court, where the trial began this week and will examine the company’s governance and the broader AI landscape.
Musk made the statement Thursday while testifying in a California federal court, where he is suing OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman, and co-founder Greg Brockman. The lawsuit centers on Musk’s claim that OpenAI moved away from its original nonprofit mission.
During questioning, Musk was asked whether xAI used distillation techniques on OpenAI models. He reportedly said the answer was “partly,” and described the approach as a broader industry practice.
Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, and Wojciech Zaremba as a nonprofit focused on developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. Musk left the company in 2018.
Musk’s testimony indicates that the method is being used by U.S.-based AI companies, not only foreign competitors.
The legal boundaries remain unclear. Distillation is not explicitly illegal, but it can raise questions about whether it violates platform rules or terms governing API use.
Musk’s remarks suggest the company may have used his former company’s technology to close the gap.
OpenAI and xAI did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.
