Elon Musk's SpaceXAI has been bleeding staff since its merger | TechCrunch

"More than 50 researchers and engineers have left SpaceXAI since February, according to The Information. The exits include key leaders across coding, world models, and Grok voice. Rivals like Meta and Thinking Machine Labs are reportedly scooping up former staff, with the company's core pre-training team dwindling to just a handful of people. Since February, at least 11 xAI employees have defected to Meta, according to The Information's report. At least seven have left to join Mira Murati's Thinking Machine Labs."

"The pre-training departures, which followed the exit of team lead Juntang Zhuang, have particularly concerned employees and people close to SpaceXAI, per The Information. Pre-training is the first step to building new AI models, and many have questioned whether the company is still committed to developing leading models. The report also found that Musk's culture of extreme work led some staff to leave - something Musk employees across his companies, including Tesla, have complained about."

"A source who spoke to The Information said Musk set unrealistic deadlines for training models, which led to cutting corners on Grok. Of course, several of the exits could have been driven by a desire to cash out. SpaceX regularly offers tenders so employees can sell vested shares privately. Others might simply feel confident that their equity is close to liquidity given the company's blockbuster IPO expectations."

"Once employees see the financial upside light at the end of the tunnel, they're less likely to work at a company that puts undue pressure on them and may not be building the leading models the company claims it wants to build. SpaceX acquired xAI - two companies owned by Musk - in February and has since installed new leadership at the company. Musk renamed the combined company SpaceXAI earlier this month."

More than 50 researchers and engineers have left SpaceXAI since February, including leaders in coding, world models, and Grok voice. Meta and Thinking Machine Labs have hired several former xAI staff, with the core pre-training team reduced to only a few people. At least 11 employees have moved to Meta and at least seven have joined Thinking Machine Labs. Departures followed the exit of pre-training team lead Juntang Zhuang and have concerned employees about whether the company remains committed to building leading models. Extreme work culture and unrealistic training deadlines have reportedly led to cutting corners on Grok. Some departures may also reflect financial motivations such as cashing out vested shares and expectations of an IPO.

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