# Elon Musk said his startup, xAI, has used models from OpenAI to improve its own systems.

*genai · news · 2026-05-03 · Times of India*

## Key points

- Elon Musk admitted in court that xAI used OpenAI models to improve its own AI systems.
- Musk described model distillation as standard practice across AI companies, not unique to xAI.
- Google has started blocking distillation attempts, labeling them as intellectual property theft.
- OpenAI and Anthropic accuse rivals like DeepSeek and Moonshot AI of illicit model distillation.
- Anthropic clarified distillation is legitimate when used on a company’s own models, not competitors’.

**Companies:** OpenAI, Google, xAI, Anthropic
**Countries:** United States, China

[Read the full story on Times of India](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/elon-musk-agrees-to-the-ai-training-practice-that-anthropic-complained-to-white-house-against-china/articleshow/130733206.cms)

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