Elon Musk is “actively” working to make xAI’s Grok chatbot “more unhinged,” according to a former employee whospoke to The Vergeabout recent departures from Musk’s AI company.
This week, following the announcement thatMusk’s SpaceX is acquiring xAI(which previously acquired his social media company X), at least 11 engineers andtwo co-founderssaid they’re leaving the company. Some said they’re departing to start something new, andMusk himself suggestedthis is part of an effort to organize xAI more effectively.
But two sources who left the company (at least one of them before the current wave) reportedly told The Verge that employees have become increasingly disillusioned by the company’s disregard for safety, resulting in global scrutiny after Grok was used tocreate more than 1 million sexualized images, including deepfakes of real women and minors.
One source said, “Safety is a dead org at xAI,” while the other said that Musk is “actively is trying to make the model more unhinged because safety means censorship, in a sense, to him.”
They also reportedly complained about a lack of direction, with one saying they felt xAI was “stuck in the catch-up phase” compared to competitors.
Source: Techcrunch
