xAI co-founders Tony Wu and Jimmy Ba resigned, leaving only six of the twelve cofounders
Reported tensions over AI model performance and internal restructuring triggered the exits
This comes after SpaceX acquisition of xAI
xAI co-founders Tony Wu and Jimmy Ba announced on X that they have quit the AI start-up, adding their name in the list of cofounders that have recently left the Elon Musk led company.
xAI is now left with just six cofounders out of the twelve that started the firm three years ago.
3 February 2026
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Ba and Wu did not specify the reason for their exit in their social media posts. However, an FT report stated that Ba's resignation was triggered by tensions within the technical team over demands to improve the performance of its AI model amid growing competition from rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Prior to Ba and Wu, other cofounders namely- Igor Babuschkin, Kyle Kosic, Christian Szegedy and Greg Yang had also left the AI start-up.
Ba and Wu’s Parting Post
In his X post, Ba thanked Musk for building up the team’s achievements, adding that they will continue to stay friends.
“So proud of what the xAI team has done and will continue to stay close as a friend of the team. Thank you all for the grind together. The people and camaraderie are the real treasures at this place.” he said.
Ba added that we are heading towards an age of 100x productivity with the right tools, stating that recursive self improvement loops are likely to go live in the next 12 months. “It’s time to recalibrate my gradient on the big picture. 2026 is gonna be insane and likely the busiest (and most consequential) year for the future of our species,” he said.
Similarly, Wu in his resignation announcement post stated that he will deeply miss the company and its people, warrooms and all the challenges they have faced together.
He also thanked Elon Musk for believing in the mission and for the experience in the company.
“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. Thank you to the entire xAI family,” he said.
SpaceX Merger and Consumer Backlash
The departures come at a time when xAI is facing consumer backlash and regulatory hurdles in several countries.
The company received backlash recently due to a trend in the Grok AI chatbot and image generator that allowed mass-creation and syndication of non-consensual, explicit, deepfake images that were based on photos of real people, including children.
The latest exit comes after SpaceX recently acquired xAI, bringing the Starlink satellite network, SpaceX rockets, the Grok chatbot and the X social platform under a single corporate umbrella.
The transaction valued SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion, Reuters reported. Under the agreement, xAI investors will reportedly receive 0.1433 SpaceX shares for each xAI share they hold.
The transaction values SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion, Reuters reported. Under the agreement, xAI investors will reportedly receive 0.1433 SpaceX shares for each xAI share they hold. Some xAI executives may elect to take cash instead of stock, at a reported cash option price of $75.46 per xAI share.
