xAI and Tesla: top managers fleeing Musk's companies
According to the Financial Times, it is an exodus: political climate and exasperating demands drive employees to leave Musk's projects
by Lorenzo Pace
A video of a lawyer who, while shouting, shovels molten coal. This is how last August Robert Keele announced on X that he was resigning from xAI, Elon Musk's company active in the development of artificial intelligence. He added, ironically, that he had generated the film by asking Grok "what is it like to run the legal department of xAI?".
Keele resigned after sixteen months because he 'adores his two small children' and cannot 'see them enough'. His case is not isolated. The Financial Times describes it as an exodus, especially among seniors. Primarily due to Musk's 'incessant demands'.
This is particularly happening at the AI start-up he founded two years ago. There, in addition to Keele's case, the financial director and the general counsel also left within a week. But the same applies to his other companies, including Tesla. Employees from both sales and the battery and powertrain operations teams decided to leave.
"Seven days a week in the office... more than 120 hours," he wrote on LinkedIn Mike Liberatore. For four months, he served as CFO of xAi. Then, he resigned and went to Musk's rival, i.e. Sam Altman and his OpenAi (the ChatGpt company). It was precisely this climate of competition with other companies that prompted some people to leave. "He wants to put Altman out of business at all costs," said one former employee.
Just as the political activism of Musk has created problems. Both support for US President Donald Trump and for far-right parties in Europe.
