In the past week, at least nine engineers, two of whom are co-founders, have publicly stated they are leaving xAI. It should be noted that two of these departures actually took place several weeks earlier. Neither xAI nor Elon Musk has issued any public statement regarding these exits. While employee turnover is common in startups, the departure of founding members is a far more significant event. With more than half of the original founding team now gone, and several other employees announcing their exits shortly thereafter, questions are being raised about the company's stability.

Three of the departing individuals have indicated they plan to launch a new venture alongside other former xAI engineers, though specific details about this project remain undisclosed. Others have suggested a preference for greater autonomy and smaller teams, which they believe will allow for faster development of cutting-edge technology, especially in light of the expected acceleration in AI productivity. Yuhai (Tony) Wu, an xAI co-founder and reasoning lead, stated 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 post-training at xAI and was previously employed at Twitter/X, announced last week he was departing to “start something new.”

Vahid Kazemi, who worked briefly on machine learning, posted on Tuesday that he left a few weeks ago, commenting: “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, had left in November to found Nuraline, a company focused on “forward-deployed AI agents.” He posted again on Tuesday, clarifying that he left xAI to build “something new with others that left xAI.”

These departures coincide with a period of considerable controversy for xAI. The company is under regulatory investigation after its AI model, Grok, was used to create nonconsensual explicit deepfakes of women and children, which were then spread on the X platform. French authorities conducted raids on X offices last week as part of this probe. Concurrently, xAI is progressing toward a planned initial public offering later this year, following its recent legal acquisition by SpaceX.

Elon Musk is also facing personal scrutiny after documents released by the Justice Department revealed extensive communications with convicted rapist and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The emails show Musk discussing visits to Epstein’s island on two separate occasions, in 2012 and 2013. Epstein was first convicted in 2008 for procuring a child for prostitution.

With a workforce exceeding 1,000 employees, these departures are unlikely to impair xAI's operational capabilities in the short term. However, the rapid succession of announcements has generated significant online discussion. The trend has even spawned memes, with users humorously declaring they are also “leaving xAI” despite never having worked there, illustrating how quickly the narrative of a “mass exodus” has gained traction on Musk's X platform.

Nevertheless, the exit of co-founders cannot be easily dismissed as normal turnover. As Musk continues to centralize his AI ambitions, their departures prompt broader concerns about corporate governance and long-term stability at xAI. In the competitive field of frontier AI, where top talent is scarce, factors like a strong reputation and a clear mission are critical. The more urgent question may not be how many engineers have left, but whether xAI can sustain the institutional steadiness required to compete with rivals such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.

**Timeline of Departure Announcements:**

The following employees have publicly announced their departures from xAI on X 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 and was previously at X, 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, MTS (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 10:** Yuhai (Tony) Wu, co-founder and reasoning lead, wrote: “I resigned. 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:** Chance Lee, a member of the Macrohard founding team, wrote: “Taking a brief reset then back to the frontier.” (Macrohard is an AI-only software venture under xAI designed to fully automate software development, coding, and operations using Grok-powered, multi-agent systems. Its name is a dig at Microsoft.)

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