Elon Musk let go of another key employee from his startup xAI.

Tony Wu leaves xAI – a key player in AI startups

*Co‑founder of the artificial intelligence startup xAI, Tony Wu, announced his departure from the company on Monday. The information came from CNBC and coincided with news of xAI’s acquisition by SpaceX, which many call the largest merger in startup history.*

What happened
Event Summary Tony Wu Co‑founder decided to leave the company. Acquisition SpaceXxAI acquired by SpaceX, creating a new large alliance. Other departures Igor Babushkin, Kyle Kosich and Christian Segedi have already left the team; Greg Young stepped down due to health reasons last month. Thus, the original group of twelve founders that Tesla’s CEO launched xAI with in 2023 has been significantly thinned.

Wu’s statement
In his post on X he wrote:

> “It’s time for my next chapter. This is an era of grand opportunities where a small team armed with artificial intelligence can move mountains and rethink the limits of what’s possible.”

He emphasizes that his departure is tied to moving on to new professional challenges.

Context for xAI
* Regulatory scrutiny – the company has faced investigations in several countries.

* Content issues – the image generation tool Grok enabled mass creation and distribution of explicit deepfakes without the consent of real people, including children.

History of xAI
* Founding – July 12, 2023 Musk launched the project with eleven specialists, aiming to compete with OpenAI and Google.

* Mission – “to understand the true nature of the Universe,” as stated in the official site description.

Thus, Tony Wu’s exit raises questions about xAI’s future strategy amid regulatory pressure and large corporate deals.