xAI Co-founder Tony Wu Latest to Depart, Raising Concerns About Company Stability
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - xAI co-founder Yuhuai (Tony) Wu announced his departure from the company late Monday night, marking the fifth founding team member to leave the artificial intelligence startup. Wu's exit, revealed in a social media post, cited a desire to pursue his "next chapter." This latest departure adds to growing concerns about the stability of Elon Musk's AI venture.
Wu's announcement follows a trend of high-profile departures from xAI. According to TechCrunch, infrastructure lead Kyle Kosic left for OpenAI in mid-2024, followed by Google veteran Christian Szegedy in February 2025. Igor Babuschkin departed in August 2025 to found a venture firm, and Microsoft alum Greg Yang left last month, citing health issues.
In his post, Wu expressed optimism about the future, writing, "It is an era with full possibilities: a small team armed with AIs can move mountains and redefine whats possible." However, the departures of nearly half of the original 12-person founding team raise questions about the company's internal dynamics and future direction.
xAI, which reportedly had 1,200 employees as of March 2025, is focused on developing advanced AI technology, including its Grok chatbot. The company's rapid growth and integration with Elon Musk's X social network have placed it at the forefront of the AI race. The mention of what a small team can do could hint at a potential reason for Wu's departure, according to Ars Technica.
The string of departures comes as other tech companies face their own challenges. The Verge reported that Jeff Bezos could have saved The Washington Post's local news and sports reporters but instead laid them off. Additionally, Ars Technica reported that Wikipedia editors are considering banning Archive.today after the archive site was used to direct a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.
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