xAI’s CFO is the latest executive to leave Elon Musk’s AI firm

In a notable shakeup, Mike Liberatore, the chief financial officer of xAI, has stepped down from his role, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. This departure adds to a growing list of significant exits from the company, raising eyebrows in the tech community. Liberatore, who previously held a position at Airbnb, joined xAI in April but left by the end of July. During his tenure, he played a crucial role in securing a substantial $5 billion in debt financing, complemented by an additional $5 billion in equity funding, with nearly half of that amount sourced from SpaceX. He was also instrumental in overseeing the expansion of xAI's data centers located in Memphis. His resignation follows the exit of xAI's general counsel, Robert Keele, who departed in August after just over a year in his position. Additionally, senior lawyer Raghu Rao and xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin announced their exits around the same timeframe, with Babuschkin indicating his intent to establish a venture capital firm focused on AI safety research. The wave of resignations continues to be a concern, especially following the July resignation of Linda Yaccarino, the former CEO of X, who stepped down amid troubling developments related to Grok, xAI’s chatbot integrated into the X platform. xAI completed its acquisition of X in late March, and this succession of high-profile departures has left many questioning the stability and future direction of the company.