The xAI exodus: Another cofounder gone, and one more has told people he's leaving

The wave of departures from Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI, continues as cofounder Zihang Dai has left the company this week, sources reveal. His association with xAI has been removed from his profile on social media platform X. Additionally, Guodong Zhang has informed colleagues of his impending departure in the coming days, although he still retains his xAI badge on his profile. This latest news follows the exits of several other cofounders, including Toby Pohlen, Jimmy Ba, Tony Wu, and Greg Yang, all of whom have stepped away since January. After Dai and Zhang’s exits, only Manuel Kroiss and Ross Nordeen will remain of the original 11 founders who joined Musk in establishing xAI in 2023. Zhang, who reports directly to Musk, has been pivotal in leading significant projects such as Grok Code and Grok Imagine. Earlier this year, he was promoted at xAI, shortly before Wu left the company. In a recent address at the Abundance Conference, Musk acknowledged challenges with Grok, stating, "Grok is currently behind in coding." He emphasized the company's commitment to enhancing its coding capabilities to surpass competitors. Before his tenure at xAI, Zhang held a position at Google DeepMind and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. Similarly, Dai was a key technical staff member at xAI, previously working at Google and obtaining a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University. Attempts to reach Zhang and Dai for comments were unsuccessful, and xAI representatives did not respond to inquiries. Since January, xAI has reportedly reduced its workforce significantly, with Musk announcing a reorganization last month that resulted in job cuts affecting teams across various projects, including the AI white-collar initiative, Macrohard, and the Grok Imagine AI image and video generator. Musk noted in February that the company's growth necessitated a restructuring to enhance operational efficiency, acknowledging that some employees may be better suited for early-stage ventures rather than later stages. Zhang was among the leaders who presented at the all-hands meeting shortly after significant departures occurred, including those of Wu and Ba. Following the reorganization and the acquisition of xAI by Musk's SpaceX, the company is reportedly preparing for an initial public offering this year, which could potentially value SpaceX at an astonishing $1.5 trillion. Just weeks after the restructuring, Pohlen, who led the Macrohard project, announced his departure, and reports suggest that the project has stalled, with Musk indicating that xAI is now collaborating with Tesla on it.