{"id":372531,"date":"2026-07-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/?p=372531"},"modified":"2026-07-17T00:00:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:00:27","slug":"xai-reportedly-loses-all-11-co-founders-turnover-surges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/xai-reportedly-loses-all-11-co-founders-turnover-surges\/","title":{"rendered":"xAI reportedly loses all 11 co-founders: turnover surges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">xAI, the Elon Musk AI company behind <a href=\"https:\/\/grok-build.en.softonic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Grok<\/a>, is reportedly dealing with a <strong>talent problem<\/strong>. Reports say all 11 original co-founders are gone, and staff turnover more broadly has been described as unusually high.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Claude\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sftcdn.net\/images\/t_app-icon-s\/p\/5dfa7663-3297-47ec-a0ce-04448fbecddb\/1820975300\/claude-code-download-Claude-Code.png\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Claude<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/claude-code.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Download<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--0\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"0\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\"><\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/claude-code.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former employees describe xAI as a hard place to work: <strong>long hours<\/strong>, decisions concentrated at the top, not much tolerance for disagreement, and constant churn. People watching the company say that could start to show up in execution, hiring, and enterprise credibility, even after reports of a $20 billion raise at roughly a $230 billion valuation and a February 2026 merger with SpaceX that reportedly put the combined company near $1.25 trillion.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reports also say xAI has measured Grok against <a href=\"https:\/\/claude-code.en.softonic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Claude<\/a>, Anthropic\u2019s competing model, especially on coding. Inside the company, there was said to be frustration that <strong>Grok lagged behind<\/strong>. There were also allegations that Claude outputs were used to improve xAI\u2019s coding systems, including claims that some employees kept relying on personal Anthropic accounts after official access had been cut off.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">xAI was also reportedly preparing layoffs of as much as <strong>30%<\/strong> in March 2026, though other reports put the cuts at more than 70%. All of that landed while Grok was already taking heat over deepfake sexual images, misinformation, and a July 2026 allegation that one coding tool sent entire code repositories to the cloud without clear consent.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you follow Grok closely, keep an eye on this.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next round of xAI news will likely come down to one question: <strong>can the company<\/strong> behind Grok get itself steady?<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"ChatGPT\" src=\"\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">ChatGPT<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/chatgpt.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Download<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--0\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"0\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\"><\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/chatgpt.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>xAI, the Elon Musk AI company behind Grok, is reportedly dealing with a talent problem. Reports say all 11 original co-founders are gone, and staff turnover more broadly has been described as unusually high. Former employees describe xAI as a hard place to work: long hours, decisions concentrated at the top, not much tolerance for &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/xai-reportedly-loses-all-11-co-founders-turnover-surges\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;xAI reportedly loses all 11 co-founders: turnover surges&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9327,"featured_media":372530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-372531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":372532,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372531\/revisions\/372532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372531"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=372531"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=372531"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=372531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}