6 safety-motivated departures tracked
xAI has experienced a near-total departure of its founding team, with departures concentrated in early 2026 following Grok's widely publicized safety failures, including the generation of non-consensual explicit images. Co-founder Jimmy Ba, who led research and safety, departed alongside Tony Wu in February 2026. The safety team was completely disbanded after their exit. Chief Engineer Igor Babuschkin had left earlier to pursue independent alignment research. The departures reflect concerns about rushed deployment without adequate safeguards and the deprioritization of safety research at the company.