Musk admits xAI used OpenAI models to train Grok
elon musk testified in federal court that xai used openai’s models to train its own, confirming model distillation occurred. when asked directly, musk said the claim was “partly” true and called it “standard practice” to use other ais for validation. this admission relates to the ongoing lawsuit between musk and openai.
During testimony in a California federal court on Thursday, Elon Musk admitted that his company xAI utilized OpenAI’s models to train its Grok system. Musk confirmed the use of model distillation—a process where a 'teacher' model trains a 'student' model—stating it was 'partly' true when asked if xAI distilled OpenAI's technology. He defended the practice as standard industry procedure for validating AI models, despite OpenAI and other labs recently accusing Chinese firms like DeepSeek of similar intellectual property theft.