Tesla Employees Leaving for Musk’s AI Startup xAI, Sparking Controversy over His Aggressive Recruitment Strategies

Elon Musk’s xAI recently launched a chatbot named Grok to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This move has been met with controversy, as some have accused Musk of aggressively recruiting Tesla engineers to join his AI startup.

Despite this, it seems that Tesla engineers are continuing to leave the electric car company in favor of Musk’s xAI. In fact, three former Tesla engineers have made the move to join xAI since its official launch last summer. One of these engineers is Ethan Knight, a machine-learning scientist who was previously working on computer vision for Tesla’s self-driving technology.

Musk has been vocal about wanting greater control over Tesla’s AI strategy. In January, he expressed discomfort with expanding Tesla’s AI and robotics capabilities without controlling a quarter of the voting bloc. This comment was seen as an ultimatum by some investors, with some describing it as bizarre and amounting to blackmail.

Overall, Musk’s efforts to gain more control over Tesla’s AI strategy have raised eyebrows and sparked debate within the industry. Some see his actions as necessary for the success of xAI, while others view them as a threat to the future of both companies.