Elon Musk’s last co-founder reportedly leaves xAI

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence venture, xAI, is undergoing a major leadership exodus. According to a Business Insider report, the final two original co-founders, Manuel Kroiss and Ross Nordeen, have now left the company. Kroiss, who led the pretraining team, and Nordeen, described as Musk's 'right-hand operator,' followed the departure of nine other co-founders earlier this month. This leaves the startup, which launched in 2023, without any of its founding technical leadership as it pursues its goal of developing a 'maximum truth-seeking AI.'

Musk recently stated that xAI 'was not built right [the] first time around' and is now 'being rebuilt from the foundations up.' The restructuring coincides with significant corporate changes. xAI was recently acquired by Musk's SpaceX, a move that consolidates SpaceX, xAI, and the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) under a single corporate structure. Nordeen, who reportedly came to xAI from Tesla, was previously involved in planning major layoffs at Twitter following Musk's 2022 acquisition. The leadership vacuum and corporate reshuffling raise questions about the strategic direction and stability of xAI as it competes in the crowded and capital-intensive generative AI market.