In another unexpected development, xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk, has undergone an abrupt reorganization. A great many engineers have chosen to work on their last treadmill. By February 2026, at least 11 engineers — including the company’s two co-founders — have made their exits from the firm public. This tech exodus raises immediate and apparent questions about the inner workings of xAI itself. Now a little bigger than 1,000 employees, just like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and other big AI companies, xAI operates as an AI research talent magnet.
These recent departures have quickly emerged as a rallying point for tech’s new, poorly-defined resistance. With six of the original 12 co-founders now departed xAI, this indicates a changing of the guard and core personnel, which can change a company’s strategic direction dramatically. Co-founder and reasoning lead Yuhuai (Tony) Wu resigned on February 9. The day after that, co-founder and research/safety lead Jimmy Ba left on February 10. Shayan Salehian, who focused on internal product infrastructure and external model behavior, is perhaps the highest-profile exit. An additional loss is Vahid Kazemi, a PhD in machine learning.
Elon Musk addressed the recent upheaval during an internal meeting, stating that “xAI was reorganized a few days ago to improve speed of execution.” He elaborated that as a company grows rapidly, “the structure must evolve just like any living organism,” which unfortunately necessitated parting ways with some staff members.
This restructuring appears to be the first part of a much larger strategy within the quickly evolving AI space. As competition continues to heat up, Musk’s vision for xAI is all about harnessing the powers of innovation and creativity.
Some of these departing engineers shared their reflections on social media about where they’re going and why. Yuhuai Wu described his departure as a movement toward “an era with complete potential,” suggesting hope for what lies ahead.
“It’s time for my next chapter. It is an era with full possibilities: a small team armed with AIs can move mountains and redefine what’s possible.” – Yuhuai (Tony) Wu
In his final weeks at xAI, Jimmy Ba reflected on his experiences there and expressed his enthusiasm for the future.
“Last day at xAI. We are heading to an age of 100x productivity with the right tools. Recursive self-improvement loops likely go live in the next 12 months. It’s time to recalibrate my gradient on the big picture.” – Jimmy Ba
Other engineers have echoed similar sentiments. Ayush Jaiswal, who departed on February 6, mentioned that he would take time off to focus on family and explore new opportunities in AI.
“This was my last week at xAI. Will be taking a few months to spend time with family & tinker with AI.” – Ayush Jaiswal
As he left, Shayan Salehian reflected on his experience. He thanked all the experiences he had over the past seven years working with all the different companies under Elon Musk’s umbrella.
“I left xAI to start something new, closing my 7+ year chapter working at Twitter, X, and xAI with so much gratitude.” – Shayan Salehian
Vahid Kazemi wishes for greater beauty in AI creation. He calls existing projects “boring,” and feels energized to initiate something new.
“IMO, all AI labs are building the exact same thing, and it’s boring. I think there’s room for more creativity. So, I’m starting something new.” – Vahid Kazemi
We wish Hang Gao and Radhakrishnan (Rad) Venkataramani well as they depart. Yet both played key roles in creating the projects xAI has thus far produced. Venkataramani, pointing to the value of recent breakthroughs in design reinforcement learning systems to the extent that they were his focus during his term.
“The last 8 months in RL systems/SWE-RL team pushing our coding model to be SOTA and toward recursive self-improvement will always be the most memorable of my lifetime.” – Radhakrishnan (Rad) Venkataramani
Former xAI engineer Roland Gavrilescu took the plunge in November, founding a new venture called Nuraline. What’s even more impressive, though, is how much he’s chosen to work in concert with other ex-xAI employees.
“I left xAI. Building something new with others that left xAI. We’re hiring :)” – Roland Gavrilescu
As these former employees begin new journeys, their departures will likely portend challenges and opportunities for xAI. The company needs the best and the brightest to remain competitive itself. This is important because as it continues forward, it will be charting a course through accelerating technology development.