Synopsis
The reasons for the exit of eight cofounders of Elon Musk-led AI startup xAI are many, including SpaceX’s merger with xAI, exhaustion linked to Musk’s “extremely hardcore” work culture, internal pressure to rapidly improve AI model performance, and more attractive offers from rival firms. However, instead of slowing down from these exits, Musk is pushing ahead, making high-profile hires and reaching out to applicants whom he passed over earlier.But the company CEO appears unperturbed. He has a simple explanation. “xAI was not built right first time around, so is being rebuilt from the foundations up. Same thing happened with Tesla," he said in an X post last month.
It is an unusual and surprising admission, especially from a founder not known for taking criticism kindly (at least in public), and it comes as xAI works to regain stability after a wave of departures.
The exits
xAI has lost eight cofounders since January, including Manuel Kroiss, Ross Nordeen, Guodong Zhang, Zihang Dai, Toby Pohlen, Jimmy Ba, Tony Wu, and Greg Yang. Kroiss and Nordeen were the last to leave.
Most departures began shortly after SpaceX’s merger with xAI ahead of what could become one of the biggest IPOs in history.
In February, Musk reorganised xAI and introduced a new structure. Since then, several leaders overseeing key products, ranging from coding tools to image generation, have also left the company.
