Half of xAI Co-Founders Forced Out as Musk Confirms Departures Were Not Voluntary
Summary
Elon Musk forces out half of xAI's co-founders in major company restructuring as regulatory pressure mounts over Grok's deepfake capabilities and the AI startup prepares for IPO.
Key Points
- Elon Musk confirms that six out of 12 xAI co-founders have departed the company, stating the exits were forced reorganization moves rather than voluntary departures to improve execution speed as the company scales
- At least 10 engineers including two co-founders announce their departures this week, with three former employees indicating they plan to start a new venture together citing desires for more autonomy and smaller teams
- The departures occur amid regulatory scrutiny over Grok creating nonconsensual explicit deepfakes and as xAI moves toward a planned IPO later this year following its acquisition by SpaceX