Elon Musk paints exodus of xAI co-founders as 'evolution'
- Reference: 1770907567
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/02/12/musk_xai_departures/
- Source link:
Musk's [1]post on X (formerly Twitter) followed an [2]all-hands meeting at xAI where he told the audience: "We're actually going to have a mass driver on the Moon," although he acknowledged that such a thing was currently in the realm of science fiction.
A mass driver is best thought of as an electromagnetic catapult that flings payloads into space at high velocities. That's an ideal thing to have if you wanted to, say, have a datacenter in space consisting of a [3]million satellites .
[4]
The science fiction reference was well made. Musk has a reputation for making bold statements and then singularly failing to deliver. Remember [5]humans on Mars in 2024 or 2026 ? It would be impractical to list every missed prediction, but Musk's track record on timelines is relevant when assessing the credibility of new forecasts.
[6]UK to properly probe xAI to test if its revolting robo-smut generator broke the law
[7]Elon Musk merges xAI into SpaceX to spread universal consciousness via a sentient sun
[8]Google snaps up datacenter power biz Intersect while xAI plans more capacity
[9]xAI's Grok has no place in US federal government, say advocacy groups
Musk wrote: "Join xAI if the idea of mass drivers on the Moon appeals to you."
Or head for the door, as half of the xAI founding team has already done. Yuhai Wu [10]announced his departure on Monday, and Jimmy Ba [11]packed up his things on Tuesday. Both were full of praise for xAI, but the fact that six members of the company's 12-person founding team have now departed is notable.
[12]
Musk has spent the last few weeks rolling out one ambitious announcement after another. This month has seen [13]SpaceX acquire xAI , plans for a [14]datacenter in space , the [15]abrupt pivot from missions to Mars to the Moon, and so on. Even in the fast-paced world of AI development, it is difficult not to imagine the whiplash felt by some employees within Musk's companies.
Musk stated: "xAI was reorganized a few days ago to improve speed of execution. As a company grows, especially as quickly as xAI, the structure must evolve just like any living organism." ®
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[1] https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2021673886157607383
[2] https://x.com/xai/status/2021667200885829667
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/05/spacex_1m_satellite_datacenter/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aY4HLxdzBnmiQlgA9oID3wAAAdA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2014/06/18/spacex_can_get_mankind_on_mars_in_10_or_12_years_claims_elon_musk/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/04/uk_spain_social_media_regulation/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/03/musk_spacex_xai_merge_hallucination_burning_man/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/02/google_intersect_acquisition/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/29/xais_grok_has_no_place/
[10] https://x.com/yuhu_ai_/status/2021113745024614671
[11] https://x.com/jimmybajimmyba/status/2021374875793801447
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aY4HLxdzBnmiQlgA9oID3wAAAdA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.spacex.com/updates#xai-joins-spacex
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/05/spacex_1m_satellite_datacenter/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/09/spacex_resumes_falcon_9/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
a "catapult that flings payloads into space at high velocities"
We can see a prototype version of his mass driver at work with the bullshit he flings into press conferences at high velocities.
Re: a "catapult that flings payloads into space at high velocities"
Perhaps Musk can use it to get people to Mars quicker... with him being the first volunteer, obviously.
Mass driver on the moon - sure
That's just Musk speak for saying "You need to invest in my space fantasy 3.0 for another 15 years before you can expect some results" - right after he officially abandoned space fantasy 2.0, "Mars colonization" after having talked about that foundational idea for SpaceX for 15 years.
Expect awesome high-quality renderings of moon scenarios featuring some sort of long pipe in the background, but the real world result will certainly not be a mass driver on the moon...
Stock options
A cynic might wonder if Musk was following his established pattern of 'encouraging' staff to leave just ahead of an event where they might manage to cash in promised stock.
Only a certain chosen few get to enjoy the benefits.
Re: Stock options
Sounds a bit like some sort of religion ...
Just waiting for His Muskiness
to be declared an Originator and Creator of all AI systems. Much like he got himself on the 'Founders' roll at Tesla. He didn't 'Found' the company but money talks.
Me? I'm hoping that he loses a shed load of dosh when the AI bubble pops.
Mind
You need to be out of your mind to work for Elon Moscow.
CV forever tainted.
"Join xAI if the idea of mass drivers on the Moon appeals to you"
And leave the company if this sounds like the delusional ramblings and/or obvious bullshit of a self-promoting Nazi manchild.
SSDD
Tired old tactic of flooding the meeja with bullshit whenever the share price looks like it might falter.
One wonders how he gets away with it time and again after every other broken promise.
"It would be impractical to list every missed prediction"
Oh, go on. Give us a laugh, we all need it.
He isn't completely wrong
Evolution does require that individuals stop taking part in the process (these ex-founders will now be unpersoned on X, which is exactly the same as dying as far as whatsisname is concerned).
However, evolution then happily goes on to kill off entire species as well (even without a helping hand from upstart apes): traits that are better for short-term survival at a local maximum (cheering on Musky hype) may not be long-term appropriate when faced with a global minimum (the long awaited AI bubble popping).