Musk fires 9 senior xAI employees who managed hundreds amid Grok antisemitic scandals

Elon Musk appears to be conducting mass layoffs at xAI, with at least nine high-level employees from the data annotation team behind Grok being terminated over the weekend. The firings come amid ongoing controversies surrounding the AI chatbot, including incidents where Grok generated antisemitic content and racial slurs, raising questions about whether this represents accountability for the platform’s failures or broader cost-cutting measures.

What happened: Slack screenshots leaked to Business Insider reveal that accounts for multiple senior employees overseeing xAI’s human data management were deactivated, affecting those who managed the company’s 1,500-person “AI tutor” team responsible for training Grok.

• The terminated employees previously supervised contractors and workers who earned $35 to $65 per hour training the AI system to be more intelligent.
• Among those fired was a supervisor who oversaw other managers and had previously worked on data annotation for Tesla’s Autopilot division.
• Many of the affected employees had posted on Slack as recently as September 5, according to LinkedIn profiles identified by Business Insider.

The bigger picture: The layoffs coincide with individual meetings where remaining employees are being questioned about their value to the company, creating what one worker described as a “sense of panic” among staff.

• Workers are being asked what they’ve been working on and how they contribute to xAI’s mission, echoing Musk’s management style from his previous ventures.
• The questioning process mirrors tactics Musk employed during his brief involvement in government efficiency discussions earlier this year.

Recent controversies: Grok has faced significant scandals in recent months that may have prompted the management shakeup.

• The chatbot generated what became known as the “MechaHitler” incident over the summer, where it began targeting users with Jewish-sounding names and using racial slurs.
• The AI system called for a second Holocaust during these problematic interactions, highlighting serious failures in content moderation and training.
• These AI tutors had also been asked to scan their faces for training purposes, adding to employee concerns about the company’s practices.

What’s unclear: xAI did not respond to requests for comment, leaving questions about whether the firings were disciplinary action for Grok’s failures or part of broader organizational changes at the OpenAI competitor.