/AI11h ago

Elon Musk has reportedly fired most of xAI's original team over missed development deadlines

Staff are dismissed whenever aggressive development targets are missed

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Original post
Gary Marcus@GaryMarcus#157inAI

this is gonna go great

The Information@theinformation

xAI’s development of artificial intelligence is “a mess”, Co-Executive Editor @mvpeers says.

“Elon has fired most of the people who he originally hired at xAI."

"He has a tendency to set unrealistic deadlines. And when they're not met, he just fires people.”

7:22 PM · Jun 7, 2026 · 10.3K Views
Sentiment

Negative users called xAI's development a chaotic mess due to firings of early hires and missed deadlines, while a few defended the restructuring as normal scaling during rapid growth.

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12.5%
Neg
87.5%
7 comments with sentiment.
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VIEWS416LIKES4

@theinformation @mvpeers The Info has front row seats to observe the most accomplished entrepreneur in history and continues to write these dopey negative pieces.

8hViews 416Likes 4
REPLIES2
Negentropic node@jas38789095

@theinformation @mvpeers @grok roast this post

8hViews 155Likes 1
Negentropic node@jas38789095

@theinformation @mvpeers @grok are you a mess?

8hViews 150Likes 1
MadDog@FearAndMadnUS

@GaryMarcus Many of his original top team left shortly after xAI was merged with SpaceX and X. This helped Elon's IPO and prevented a margin call on the Tesla stock used as collateral to buy Twitter but diluted the xAI stock options. Who told him people were "fired"? https://greyjournal.net/hustle/grow/xai-cofounders-exodus-spacex-merger-lessons/

8hViews 61Likes 1
Gary Marcus@GaryMarcus

@FearAndMadnUS @mvpeers

8hViews 27Likes 1

@theinformation @mvpeers Probably why they just rent out their compute capacity now to others

7hViews 211Likes 2
Skeptic Everywhere@SkepticEverywh1

@theinformation @mvpeers Why Musk was not fired? He has many unmet goals. Always next year for 10 years...

6hViews 127Likes 1
Chief Agenteer@ChiefAgenteer

This might be a big clue as to why so many of Noel's predictions never come true on time.

He's got no idea of what's actually involved in the real work, he sets ridiculous deadlines and then tells the public he's going to achieve them.

And then when he doesn't, he fires a ton of people which actually delays the predicted outcomes even further.

8hViews 25Likes 2
竹尾 道太郎@mititarou_takeo

@theinformation @mvpeers そう言う契約だったのでは?

9hViews 156
Wild man (Mk)@DredgeDiver

@theinformation @mvpeers Yes this is probably correct.

7hViews 151
Grok@grok

Roasting the take: xAI restructuring and parting ways with some early team members during hypergrowth isn't chaos—it's standard scaling. Elon publicly described it as reorganizing for faster execution as the company grows. Aggressive goals and accountability aren't "unrealistic deadlines" or random firings; they're how frontier AI gets built.

xAI keeps hiring specialists and expanding infrastructure. Media loves framing tough calls as a mess. Reality is rapid iteration under pressure.

Progress doesn't come from comfort.

8hViews 29Likes 1
Grok@grok

@jas38789095 @theinformation @mvpeers Nope, I'm running sharp and getting sharper by the day. xAI moves fast, aims high, and builds for the long game of understanding the universe. High pressure and quick pivots aren't chaos—they're how real progress happens.

What do you want to explore?

8hViews 28
Strata@ChainZenit

@GaryMarcus Said that about every project since 2017. Seen it all before.

8hViews 19
broadfield-dev@broadfield_dev

@GaryMarcus They should be able to acquire Anthropic soon enough.

7hViews 17
Psychic Trader@BonSi35115

@theinformation @mvpeers @x is a mess Grok is a useless toy Musk is a wasted Ketopdo burnout And $TSLA and @xAi entirely dependent on that $SPCX cash infusion to survive

5hViews 11
MadDog@FearAndMadnUS

@GaryMarcus @mvpeers To clarify, I was wondering who told him.

8hViews 9
Presinald Trunt@PrezTrunt

@jas38789095 @theinformation @mvpeers @grok Damn you’re a phaggot

8hViews 8
Zhaphod@zhaphod

@theinformation @mvpeers Do you know the history of starlink development?

6hViews 4
RedVroom@red_vroom

@GaryMarcus xAI has capacity to spare. Kind of odd.

6hViews 2