Elon Musk is responding to a series of departures from xAI, with two additional co-founders leaving this week. This brings the total number of departed co-founders to six out of the original twelve. During an all-hands meeting, Musk indicated the exits were related to organizational fit as the company scales, not individual performance. “Because we’ve reached a certain scale, we’re organizing the company to be more effective at this scale,” he stated. “And actually, when this happens, there’s some people who are better suited for the early stages of a company and less suited for the later stages.”

He elaborated further in a post, clarifying that these departures were not voluntary. “xAI was reorganized a few days ago to improve speed of execution,” Musk wrote. “As a company grows, especially as quickly as xAI, the structure must evolve just like any living organism. This unfortunately required parting ways with some people.” He noted the company is now “hiring aggressively” and concluded with a characteristic appeal: “Join xAI if the idea of mass drivers on the Moon appeals to you.”

The loss of half its founding team in a short timeframe naturally prompts scrutiny. Musk’s statements appear aimed at shaping the narrative, framing the exits as a necessary step rather than a setback. In total, at least nine engineers, including the two co-founders, have publicly announced their departure from xAI in the past week—though two of those exits seem to have occurred earlier. Three departing staff members have stated they will be starting a new venture alongside other former xAI engineers, though details remain undisclosed. Others have suggested a preference for more autonomy and smaller teams to accelerate the development of cutting-edge technology, citing the coming surge in AI capabilities.

Yuhuai (Tony) Wu, an xAI co-founder and reasoning lead, remarked in his resignation announcement: “It’s time for my next chapter. It is an era with full possibilities: a small team armed with AIs can move mountains and redefine what’s possible.” Shayan Salehian, who worked on product infrastructure and model behavior and was previously at Twitter/X, said last week he was leaving to “start something new.”

Vahid Kazemi, who worked briefly on machine learning, posted that he left a few weeks ago, adding: “IMO, all AI labs are building the exact same thing, and it’s boring … So, I’m starting something new.” Roland Gavrilescu, a former xAI engineer who left in November to found Nuraline, posted again to clarify he left the firm to build “something new with others that left xAI.”

These departures occur during a period of significant controversy for xAI. The company is under regulatory investigation after its Grok AI generated nonconsensual explicit deepfakes that were spread on X; French authorities recently raided X offices as part of this probe. xAI is also progressing toward a planned IPO this year, following its legal acquisition by SpaceX last week.

Simultaneously, Musk is facing personal controversy after released documents revealed extended communications with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The emails show Musk discussing visits to Epstein’s island on two occasions, in 2012 and 2013. Epstein was first convicted in 2008 for procuring a child for prostitution.

With over 1,000 employees, xAI’s short-term operational capacity is unlikely to be impacted by these exits. However, the rapid pace of announcements has fueled online discussion, with users humorously declaring they too are “leaving xAI”—a sign of how quickly the narrative of a “mass exodus” has spread on the platform. Nevertheless, the forced departure of co-founders is rarely an indicator of seamless scaling. While Musk presents the reorganization as strategic, the fact that several engineers left alongside the founders—with at least three starting a new project together—suggests underlying tensions may exist.

In the competitive frontier AI sector, where top talent is scarce and reputation is critical, xAI’s ability to attract and retain leading researchers will be tested as it vies with organizations like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.

**Timeline of Departure Announcements**

The following employees have publicly announced their departures from xAI in recent days:

**February 6:** Ayush Jaiswal, engineer, wrote: “This was my last week at xAI. Will be taking a few months to spend time with family & tinker with AI.”

**February 7:** Shayan Salehian, who worked on product infrastructure and model behavior post-training, wrote: “I left xAI to start something new, closing my 7+ year chapter working at Twitter, X, and xAI with so much gratitude.” He added that working closely with Elon Musk taught him “obsessive attention to detail, maniacal urgency, and to think from first principles.”

**February 9:** Simon Zhai, member of technical staff, wrote: “Today is my last day at xAI, feeling very fortunate about the opportunity. It has been an amazing journey.”

**February 9:** Yuhuai (Tony) Wu, co-founder and reasoning lead, wrote: “I resigned from xAI today. It’s time for my next chapter. It is an era with full possibilities: a small team armed with AIs can move mountains and redefine what’s possible.”

**February 10:** Jimmy Ba, co-founder and research/safety lead, wrote: “Last day at xAI. We are heading to an age of 100x productivity with the right tools. Recursive self improvement loops likely go live in the next 12 months. It’s time to recalibrate my gradient on the big picture. 2026 is gonna be insane and likely the busiest (and most consequential) year for the future of our species.”

**February 10:** Vahid Kazemi, an ML PhD, wrote that he had left xAI “a few weeks ago,” adding: “IMO, all AI labs are building the exact same thing, and it’s boring. I think there’s room for more creativity. So, I’m starting something new.”

**February 10:** Hang Gao, who worked on multimodal efforts including Grok Imagine, wrote: “I left xAI today.” He described his time there as “truly rewarding,” citing contributions to Grok Imagine’s releases and praising the team’s “humble craftsmanship and ambitious vision.”

**February 10:** Roland Gavrilescu, the engineer who left in November to start Nuraline, posted: “I left xAI. Building something new with others that left xAI. We’re hiring :)”

**February 10:** Chace Lee, a member of the Macrohard founding team, wrote: “Taking a brief reset, then back to the frontier.” Macrohard is an AI-focused software venture under xAI aimed at fully automating software development using Grok-powered systems, and its name is a playful reference to Microsoft.