xAI just lost one of its original co-founders. Tony Wu has departed Elon Musk's AI venture as the company undergoes a major corporate restructure, with SpaceX acquiring the startup ahead of a planned initial public offering. The exit marks another leadership shake-up for xAI, which launched less than three years ago with the ambitious goal of competing against OpenAI and Anthropic in the race to build artificial general intelligence.
xAI is experiencing another leadership exodus. Tony Wu, one of the company's original co-founders, has departed the AI startup just as it undergoes a dramatic corporate transformation under SpaceX ownership, CNBC reports.
The exit couldn't come at a more critical moment. SpaceX recently acquired xAI in a surprise move that industry insiders believe is designed to streamline the AI company's path to a public offering. But Wu's departure - described by sources as the "latest senior departure" - suggests the integration may be rockier than Elon Musk would like investors to believe.
Wu brought serious AI credentials to xAI when it launched in July 2023. Before joining Musk's venture, he spent years working on machine learning infrastructure at major tech companies. His exit leaves a gap in the technical leadership team at a time when xAI is racing to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google in the increasingly crowded large language model market.
The SpaceX acquisition itself raises fascinating strategic questions. Musk has long talked about creating synergies across his sprawling business empire - Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and now xAI. But absorbing the AI startup into his rocket company just ahead of an IPO suggests he's prioritizing speed to public markets over maintaining xAI's independent identity.
