Elon Musk’s Tesla is suing one of its former engineers for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to its highly anticipated Optimus humanoid robot.
The defendant is Zhongjie “Jay” Li, who cofounded the humanoid robot startup Proception Inc. after working at Tesla from Aug. 2022 to Sept. 2024, according to the complaint filed in San Francisco federal court on Wednesday.
The lawsuit alleges Li, who worked on “advanced robotic hand sensors—and was entrusted with some of the most sensitive technical data in the program,” downloaded Optimus files onto two smartphones.
Li started Proception less than a week after leaving Tesla and the startup claimed to have built humanoid robot hands with a “striking resemblance” to Optimus just five months later.
“Rather than build through legitimate innovation, trial, and technical rigor, Defendants took a shortcut: theft,” the lawsuit says. “They misappropriated Tesla’s most sensitive materials, sidestepped the laborious process of development, and launched a company based not on original discovery, but on stolen work.”
Tesla is seeking unspecified “compensatory and exemplary damages” against Li, as well an order barring Li and his associates from using any of the company’s trade secrets. The company also requested a jury trial in the case.
Proception is based in Palo Alto, Calif., according to its LinkedIn page. Li lists himself as founder and CEO of the startup, which he says is “tackling one of the most challenging and exciting humanoid projects of our time.”
Li did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit.
In the suit, Tesla’s attorneys said that successfully building an advanced robotic hand is “among the most challenging” tasks in robotics.
“Although Tesla does not disclose the precise year-over-year investments in Optimus, the research and development costs are in the billions of dollars,” the lawsuit says. “Such an ambitious project demands unparalleled expertise and substantial time and financial commitment to achieve even incremental progress.”
Musk has repeatedly described Tesla’s Optimus robot as key to the company’s long-term health and growth.
The billionaire specifically touted Optimus’s advanced robotic hand during the company’s earnings call in January.
“My prediction long-term is that Optimus will be overwhelmingly the value of the company,” Musk said at the time.
Bloomberg was first to report on the lawsuit.
