Tesla and xAI Staff Are Fleeing as Musk Becomes Increasingly Erratic

"As Elon Musk continues to unravel on the world stage, so does his business empire - at least if employee churn is any indication. At Tesla and xAI, the Financial Times reports, the centibillionaire's ruthless demands, chaotic decision-making, and deteriorating public image are driving away senior leaders and rank and file talent, many of whom are fleeing to Musk's biggest rivals."

"Many executives leave of their own accord. Most notably, Linda Yaccarino stepped down as CEO of X in July, shortly after the site's AI chatbot Grok had a legendary meltdown that saw it praise Nazis and call itself "MechaHitler." Behind the scenes, reports suggest Yaccarino had grown fed up with Musk slowly icing her out from making decisions and undermining her attempts to resuscitate the platform's ad revenue that had tanked after he took it over when it was still called Twitter."

Elon Musk's companies, including Tesla and xAI (which now operates X), are experiencing elevated executive and employee turnover. Reports cite ruthless demands, chaotic decision-making, and a damaged public image as key drivers pushing senior leaders and engineers to leave. Several high-profile departures include Linda Yaccarino resigning as CEO of X and short-tenured executives at xAI who cited excessive hours and family strain. Numerous former employees have joined competitors such as OpenAI or returned to prior employers. Some departing staff have launched ventures focused on AI safety, while others left due to internal power struggles and collapsing ad revenue.

Read at Futurism