Elon Musk's Empire Faces Staff Turnover and Concerns Amid xAI Lawsuit and Public Stances
Elon Musk's business empire, including xAI and Tesla, has witnessed a significant turnover in staff recently. While xAI has sued OpenAI over alleged poaching, it has also shifted its hiring strategy. Meanwhile, Musk's public stances and company decisions have sparked unease among employees.
xAI, Musk's two-year-old AI startup, has seen its chief financial officer and general counsel depart after brief tenures. The company has recently fired around 500 employees, mainly from its data annotation team, and is now seeking to hire specialized AI tutors in STEM, finance, medicine, and security fields. This signals a shift from directly acquiring numerous employees from Musk's other ventures.
At Tesla, core members of the Optimus robot and artificial intelligence teams have also left. The company experienced a wave of senior departures over the past year, including key members of its US sales team, battery and power-train operations, public affairs arm, and chief information officer. Some employees left after Tesla culled 14,000 jobs in April 2024. Musk's cancellation of a programme to build a low-cost electric vehicle for emerging markets also raised concerns.
Musk's public support for Donald Trump and advocacy for far-right provocateurs have caused unease among some staff. At xAI, some employees have balked at Musk's free-speech absolutism and perceived lax approach to user safety. Despite these developments, Tesla chair Robyn Denholm stated that the company remains a magnet for talent.
xAI's co-founder and chief engineer, Igor Babuschkin, has stepped down to found his own AI safety research project. While Musk's businesses continue to attract talent, the recent turnover and employee concerns highlight the challenges faced by his empire. The outcome of xAI's lawsuit against OpenAI and the impact of Musk's public stances on his companies' future remain to be seen.
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