Grok’s Growth Halted by Heavy Layoffs
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has laid off at least 500 employees from its largest data annotation team, which has been assisting in the development of the Grok 3 chatbot, Reuters reported.
According to the report, employees were informed via email on Friday night that the “general AI tutor team” would be downsized. However, the company stated that it is actively hiring across different sectors and plans to expand its specialized AI tutor team tenfold.
The data annotation team primarily helps Grok interpret diverse global contexts and classify unstructured information. The laid-off employees will continue receiving pay until the end of their contracts or until November 30, but their access to company systems was terminated immediately upon dismissal.
Meanwhile, in July, xAI’s Chief Financial Officer Mike Liberatore left the company after only a few months in the role, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Musk launched xAI in 2023 with the aim of countering the artificial intelligence initiatives of major technology firms. He has repeatedly alleged that rivals are engaging in “excessive censorship” and ignoring safety standards.
