Half of Elon Musk's xAI founders left within days

Elon Musk's startup xAI lost two co-founders within a week — Yuhuai (Tony) Wu and Jimmy Ba — and now only six of the original twelve founders remain at the company. Wu announced his departure on Tuesday, and Ba on Wednesday; both left amid a broader wave of layoffs among xAI's rank-and-file employees, some of whom announced plans to launch their own AI startups.

Who left and what they said

Yuhuai (Tony) Wu, announcing his departure on Tuesday, wrote that "it was time for his next chapter." The next day, Wednesday, Jimmy Ba published a similar post, noting that "it was time to recalibrate his gradient toward the bigger picture." Both are co-founders of xAI, a startup founded by Elon Musk last year to compete with OpenAI and other AI market leaders.

Their departure reduces the number of founders remaining on staff from twelve to six — meaning xAI lost exactly half of its original founding team within a matter of days. According to The Verge, the wave of departures was not limited to top management: a number of rank-and-file employees also announced their departure via X, with some saying they plan to start their own artificial intelligence companies.

Why this matters for xAI and Grok

xAI originally assembled a team of specialists with experience at leading tech companies and academic institutions, stating its goal was to accelerate AI development and make it more accessible. A mass exodus of co-founders and experienced employees at such an early stage creates a risk of delays in the development of the flagship Grok model, on which the company is staking its competition with OpenAI. The wording used for the departures — "next chapter," "gradient recalibration" — sounds neutral, but such phrases usually mask deeper reasons: disagreements over the company's vision, resource allocation, or corporate culture.

The loss of a significant share of the founders calls into question the long-term stability of xAI's culture and could complicate attracting new qualified specialists in the future.

What this means for the AI market

xAI has positioned itself as a serious contender for the role of competitor to OpenAI and other industry leaders. An internal crisis involving the departure of half the founders risks stalling the momentum the company has built up. An additional risk comes from employees who left xAI with their own startup ideas: they could turn into new competitors, drawing on the experience and groundwork gained while working at Elon Musk's company. For xAI's investors and partners, this creates additional uncertainty about whether the company can maintain its development pace and team stability amid fierce competition in the AI market.

How many co-founders remain at xAI?

Of xAI's original twelve co-founders, six remain at the company — exactly half. This came after co-founders Yuhuai (Tony) Wu (on Tuesday) and Jimmy Ba (on Wednesday) announced their departures this week.

Which xAI co-founders left, and what did they say?

Yuhuai (Tony) Wu and Jimmy Ba left. Wu wrote that "it was time for his next chapter," while Ba said "it was time to recalibrate his gradient toward the bigger picture." Both messages were posted on X.

Was the exodus limited to co-founders only?

No. According to The Verge, in addition to the two xAI co-founders, a number of rank-and-file employees also left, announcing it on X; some of them said they plan to start their own artificial intelligence startups.