Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI has been hemorrhaging employees since its merger

Elon Musk’s newly renamed SpaceXAI is reportedly losing top talent, with more than 50 researchers and engineers leaving since February, according to The Information. Exits include key leaders in programming, world models, and Grok audio.

Rivals like Meta and Thinking Machine Labs are reportedly poaching former employees, with the company’s core pre-training team dwindling to just a handful of people. Since February, at least 11 xAI employees have defected to Meta, The Information reports. At least seven of them have left to join Mira Moratti’s Thinking Machine Laboratories. TechCrunch previously reported on 11 xAI departures announced immediately after the merger, including two of its co-founders.

SpaceX acquired xAI, two Musk-owned companies, in February, and has since installed new leadership at the company. Musk renamed the combined company SpaceXAI earlier this month.

The pre-training departures, which followed the departure of team leader Juntang Zhuang, particularly worried employees and people close to SpaceXAI, according to the information. Pre-training is the first step to building new AI models, and many have questioned whether the company is still committed to developing groundbreaking models.

The report also found that Musk’s extreme work culture prompted some employees to leave, something Musk’s employees have complained about across his companies, including Tesla. A source who spoke to The Information said Musk set unrealistic deadlines for training models, which led to Grok downsizing.

Of course, many exits may have been motivated by a desire to cash out.

SpaceX regularly holds tenders so employees can sell acquired shares privately. Others may simply feel confident that their shares are close to liquidity given the company’s IPO prospects. Once employees see the positive financial light at the end of the tunnel, they are less likely to work for a company that puts undue pressure on them, and they may not build the groundbreaking models they want to work on.

TechCrunch has reached out to SpaceX for comment.