Elon Musk's xAI lays off employees amid major restructuring
Elon Musk's AI startup xAI laid off some employees in mid-February 2026 as part of a big shake-up to move faster.
This comes as reports have described plans for orbital data centers without a specific year and the merged company plans to pursue an initial public offering later this year.
Layoffs in mid-February 2026
In mid-February 2026, Musk confirmed layoffs, saying some changes "required parting ways with some people."
An earlier round reportedly cut data annotators and dropped Slack users from 1,500 to just over 1,000 as xAI shifted toward hiring specialist AI tutors in STEM and coding.
A striking majority of cofounders have left over the past year. Multiple engineers publicly announced departures in the recent period, though some exits occurred weeks earlier.
Musk is still on the hunt for new talent
Even with all the changes, Musk is still on the hunt for new talent.
His latest pitch? "Join xAI if the idea of mass drivers on the Moon appeals to you."
The company is busy building Grok, a chatbot aiming to rival ChatGPT and Claude, with an eye on interstellar ambitions.