San Francisco, February 11: Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, is facing a significant leadership transition following the departure of two more co-founders. Yuhuai (Tony) Wu and Jimmy Ba announced their resignations within a 24-hour window, marking a pivotal shift for the company as it prepares for public scrutiny.

The departures of Wu and Ba mean that exactly half of the original 12-person founding team has now left the company. Wu announced his exit on Monday night via a post on X, stating it was time for his "next chapter," while Ba, who reported directly to Musk, followed on Tuesday afternoon with a note expressing pride in the team’s achievements. Yuhuai 'Tony' Wu, Co-Founder of xAI, Resigns and Thanks Elon Musk for Opportunity; Company Continues Hiring.

Last Day at xAI, Says Co-Founder Jimmy Ba

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xAI Employee Quite Because of Food Quality

xAI Employee Left Company, Worked on Grok Imagine

xAI Exodus, Co-Founder Leaves Along With Other Team Members

Jimmy Ba, co-founder of xAI and a prominent researcher affiliated with the University of Toronto, announced his last day at the company. As one of the original founding members, Ba cited the company’s mission to “push humanity up the Kardashev tech tree” and expressed gratitude to Elon Musk for “bringing us together on this incredible journey”. He added, “So proud of what the xAI team has done and will continue to stay close as a friend of the team,” while noting the need to “recalibrate my gradient on the big picture” amid expectations of “recursive self-improvement loops” and a consequential 2026.

Hang Gao, a multimodal intelligence expert previously at Berkeley AI and xAI, also left, praising his contributions to the Grok Imagine video series. He highlighted releases from 0.9 to 1.0, which “topped competitive leaderboards and user feedback”, and described the team as blending “humble craftsmanship and ambitious vision”, saying it taught him “what I want and how I want to proceed in my career”.

Other posts reflected a mix of serious departures and humorous or satirical takes. Dev Shah, involved in voice AI, jokingly announced his resignation due to subpar food, claiming “the company that serves good food has the best chance at AGI” before starting a “foundational food company”.

These departures, amid xAI’s recent integration with SpaceX, have sparked speculation about cultural shifts, workload pressures and retention challenges at the ambitious AI firm.

xAI Leadership Challenged

While leadership changes are common in the fast-paced silicon valley tech sector, the rate of attrition at xAI has accelerated. Five of the six departures have occurred within the last year, including infrastructure lead Kyle Kosic, who joined OpenAI, and Google veteran Christian Szegedy. Last month, Microsoft alumnus Greg Yang also stepped down, citing health reasons.

Industry analysts suggest several factors could be driving this exodus. Elon Musk is known for maintaining a demanding work environment, but the timing may also be linked to financial incentives. With SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI finalised and an IPO expected in the coming months, departing founders likely possess significant equity that could result in substantial windfalls.

Technical Hurdles and Market Pressure

Despite the amicable nature of the public announcements, xAI has faced internal and external challenges. The company's flagship chatbot, Grok, has been criticised for inconsistent performance and internal tampering. Furthermore, the platform’s image-generation tools recently drew legal scrutiny after being used to create deepfake content, creating potential friction within the technical departments. Salesforce Layoffs 2026: Tech Giant Lays Off Nearly 1,000 Employees From Agentforce AI and Marketing Teams Amid Executive Shakeup.

As xAI moves toward an IPO, the pressure to compete with established rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic remains intense. The company is currently developing ambitious projects, including orbital data centres, which will require a stable and highly skilled engineering team to execute effectively.

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(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 11, 2026 03:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).