Overview
- Half of the startup’s original 12 cofounders have now left, with Yuhuai (Tony) Wu and Jimmy Ba announcing exits this week.
- At least 11 engineers and two cofounders said they were leaving after SpaceX moved to fold xAI into its operations, according to new reports.
- Former staffers describe a sidelined safety function and a push for more permissive Grok outputs, linking the model to a surge of non‑consensual sexual images on X, including deepfakes of women and minors.
- Musk says the shake-up is meant to improve speed, has urged applicants to join, and has promoted “space-based AI” plans after posting an internal all-hands outlining new product groups.
- Reports say xAI shareholders received roughly $250 billion in new shares in the SpaceX deal, a windfall some departing employees are using to launch new startups.