Who Is Devendra Chaplot? Know All About Indian-American Who Joined Elon Musk’s SpaceX, xAI To Work on Superintelligence
Devendra Singh Chaplot, a former Mistral AI founding member, has joined Elon Musk’s SpaceX and xAI. An IIT Bombay and Carnegie Mellon alumnus, Chaplot will focus on developing superintelligence. His appointment marks a significant talent acquisition for Musk as he seeks to combine robotics expertise with frontier-scale artificial intelligence models.
Austin, March 14: Indian AI researcher and robotics expert Devendra Singh Chaplot has announced he is joining SpaceX and xAI to work directly under Elon Musk. The move, confirmed via a social media update on March 13, will see the IIT Bombay alumnus focusing on the development of superintelligence by bridging the gap between physical and digital AI systems.
Chaplot, who was a founding member at Mistral AI, expressed his intention to merge his extensive background in robotics and embodied agents with large-scale frontier AI. The announcement comes as Musk’s ventures continue to accelerate the integration of advanced machine learning into physical hardware, ranging from Starship operations to humanoid robotics. X Money Early Public Access Launch Next Month: Elon Musk.
Elon Musk Welcomes Devendra Chaplot for Superintelligence
Devendra Chapot Education and Past Jobs
The researcher’s trajectory towards the top of the global tech industry began with notable academic success in India. In 2010, Chaplot achieved an All India Rank of 25 in the IIT-JEE and secured an International Rank of 5 in the International Mathematics Olympiad. These early milestones provided the foundation for his undergraduate studies in Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay.
Following his time in India, Chaplot earned a PhD from the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University. His research during this period was pivotal in the field of autonomous systems, specifically focusing on how agents navigate and interact with physical environments. His work received multiple accolades, including top honours at the CVPR AI Habitat Navigation Challenges and the Visual Doom AI Competition.
Before joining Musk’s team, Chaplot played a significant role in the European AI landscape as part of the founding team at Mistral AI, where he helped develop high-efficiency large language models. He later co-founded Thinking Machines Lab, an initiative dedicated to scaling LLM training infrastructure and democratising AI development tools for a broader audience. Grok Imagine New Feature Update: Elon Musk’s xAI Launches 10-Second Video Generation; Comes With Improved Audio and Video Quality.
The transition to SpaceX and xAI highlights a growing trend of top-tier talent moving towards integrated "physical-digital" intelligence projects. As companies like Meta and Amazon navigate internal restructuring and workforce adjustments, specialised researchers like Chaplot remain in high demand to lead the next generation of autonomous technology. His new role is expected to focus on the intersection of xAI’s digital intelligence and the complex engineering requirements of SpaceX.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 14, 2026 07:32 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).