Elon Musk Apologises To Candidates Rejected By xAI In Past Hiring Rounds: ‘Going Through The Company Interview History And Reaching Out’

Last Updated:March 14, 2026, 09:55 IST

Elon Musk said his AI startup xAI is being rebuilt after several team members left the company.

Elon Musk has said that his artificial intelligence company xAI is going through major internal changes. The billionaire entrepreneur said the startup is now rebuilding its structure after several members of the original team left.

Musk also admitted that the company may not have been built the right way at the beginning. Along with explaining the changes, he even apologised to people who were rejected earlier during the hiring process.

Elon Musk Admits The Company Needs Rebuilding

Elon Musk shared an update on X. In his post, Musk explained that the company is now being rebuilt from the ground up because the original setup was not done properly.

“xAI was not built right first time around, so is being rebuilt from the foundations up. Same thing happened with Tesla," Musk said in the post.

He also said that the company might have missed out on hiring talented people earlier. “Many talented people over the past few years were declined an offer or even an interview @xAI. My apologies. @BarisAkis and I are going through the company interview history and reaching back out to promising candidates," he added.

A New AI Researcher Joins The Team

At the same time, Musk welcomed a new researcher who announced he would be joining both SpaceX and xAI. The researcher wrote in a post that he was excited to work closely with Musk and the team.

“I’m joining SpaceX and xAI, working closely with Elon and team to build superintelligence. Together, SpaceX and xAI combine physical and digital intelligence under a leader who understands hardware at the deepest level. Add a high-agency culture with frontier-scale resources, and you get the possibility to achieve something truly unique."

He also spoke about his past work in robotics and artificial intelligence. “I’m excited to advance the fields I’ve obsessed over for years, from robotics research to building AI models on the founding teams of Mistral and TML. Both were extraordinary journeys with extraordinary people that shaped how I think about building intelligence from the ground up. Grateful for everything that brought me here and can’t wait to get started," he added.

Musk later replied to the post and wrote, “Welcome to @xAI!"

According to his LinkedIn profile, the researcher is Devendra Singh Chaplot. He previously worked at Mistral AI and also spent time as a research scientist at Facebook AI Research. Chaplot has worked on machine learning, robotics and computer vision projects. His research has been recognised at major conferences and has also appeared in publications such as MIT Technology Review and TechCrunch.

Several Leaders Have Left The AI Startup

The company is currently dealing with several departures from its early leadership team.

One of the cofounders, Yuhuai Wu, recently announced that he would be leaving the startup. He wrote that it was “time for [his] next chapter."

Soon after, another cofounder, Jimmy Ba, also shared that he would step away from the company, saying it was “time to recalibrate [his] gradient on the big picture."

Reports suggest that other senior members connected with the company have also left or may leave soon. These include figures such as Toby Pohlen and Greg Yang.

According to a report by The Verge, some former employees were concerned about the company’s direction and how certain product decisions were being made.

These developments are happening while xAI continues to go through internal changes and adjustments within Musk’s broader group of companies, which also includes SpaceX and the social media platform X.

News viral Elon Musk Apologises To Candidates Rejected By xAI In Past Hiring Rounds: ‘Going Through The Company Interview History And Reaching Out’

Read More