Half the Founders Gone: xAI Loses 50% of Its Original Team Amid Mounting Pressure

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture xAI has reached a symbolic and potentially destabilizing milestone: exactly half of its original 12 founders have now departed the company.

The latest exits came within 48 hours. On February 9, co-founder Yuhuai “Tony” Wu announced his departure in a post on X, writing that it was “time for my next chapter” and adding that “a small team armed with AIs can move mountains.” The following day, co-founder Jimmy Ba confirmed he was also leaving, thanking Musk and stating he would “stay close as a friend.”

Their exits bring the total number of departed founders to six, marking a 50 percent exodus from the July 2023 founding cohort.

Two Departures in Two Days

Wu led xAI’s reasoning research efforts and had been closely associated with the development of Grok, the company’s flagship chatbot. His departure was publicly framed as a forward-looking move, though it follows months of leadership changes within the research team.

Ba, who oversaw research, safety, and enterprise initiatives, also characterized his exit as amicable. However, multiple reports citing unnamed sources point to tensions inside the technical team, particularly around pressure to accelerate development and close performance gaps with competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

As of February 11, xAI has not issued an official statement addressing the departures.

A Pattern, Not an Isolated Event

The most recent exits cap a broader trend that has unfolded over the past year and a half. Since mid-2024, several founding members have left for roles at other AI firms, venture ventures, or for personal reasons.

Among prior departures:

• Kyle Kosic, infrastructure lead, left in mid-2024 and later joined OpenAI
• Christian Szegedy, AI researcher, exited in early 2025
• Igor Babuschkin, co-founder, departed in August 2025 to launch a venture firm
• Greg Yang, researcher, stepped away in January 2026 citing health reasons

With Wu and Ba now added to the list, only six of the original founders remain, including Musk.

Industry analysts have described the turnover as unusually high for a company not yet three years old. Tech outlets this week characterized the trend as a “troubling pattern,” while other commentary suggested it could signal internal instability during a pivotal growth phase.

Merger Timing Raises Questions

The departures come shortly after SpaceX completed its acquisition of xAI, folding the AI startup into a larger Musk-controlled technology group. The integration was widely viewed as a strategic move to combine space-based infrastructure with AI ambitions, including data center expansion and advanced model training capabilities.

At the same time, xAI has reportedly been positioning itself for further capital activity, including the possibility of an eventual public offering. Leadership turnover at this scale during merger integration and IPO preparation can raise concerns among investors, particularly when it involves founding researchers.

According to coverage from Reuters and Bloomberg, Musk held a staff call earlier this week to discuss technical leadership changes, though details have not been publicly disclosed.

Competitive and Technical Pressure

xAI was founded in July 2023 with the stated goal of building advanced AI systems capable of competing directly with OpenAI and other frontier labs. Its chatbot Grok has gained visibility but has also faced criticism for inconsistent outputs and content moderation controversies.

Recent reports have highlighted internal pressure to accelerate development timelines and strengthen performance benchmarks. Some coverage has pointed to friction within the research team over strategic direction and execution pace, though no formal dispute has been confirmed by the company.

The broader AI talent market also plays a role. With investor appetite for new AI ventures still strong, experienced founders and senior researchers have significant leverage to launch independent startups or join competing firms.

What This Means for xAI

The immediate operational impact remains unclear. xAI continues to operate Grok and pursue infrastructure expansion under the SpaceX umbrella. However, founder departures at this scale can affect:

• Long-term research continuity
• Internal morale and recruitment
• Investor confidence during integration and capital planning

Whether the turnover reflects growing pains in a high-pressure AI race or deeper organizational strain is still an open question.

For now, the headline is unmistakable: three years after launch, exactly half of xAI’s founding team has walked away. At a moment when AI competition is intensifying and scrutiny is rising, the company enters its next phase with a materially reshaped leadership core.

Further developments are expected as integration plans and executive restructuring become clearer in the weeks ahead.