Igor Babuschkin, co-founder and head of engineering at xAI, the AI startup founded by Elon Musk, has announced his departure. He shared the news on August 13 via a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Babuschkin co-founded xAI with Musk in 2023 and played a pivotal role in transforming the company into one of the leading developers of artificial intelligence models in just a short time.
“Today was my last day at xAI. I still remember the first time I met Elon — we talked for hours about AI and the future. Back then, we both believed there was a need for a new AI company with a different kind of mission,” Babuschkin wrote.
A New Path — Venture Capital
Babuschkin will now launch Babuschkin Ventures, a venture capital fund aimed at supporting AI safety research and backing startups that can “advance humanity and unlock the mysteries of our universe.”
He says the idea was inspired by a conversation with Max Tegmark, founder of the Future of Life Institute, where they discussed how AI could be developed safely to ensure the prosperity of future generations. Babuschkin also noted in his post that his parents emigrated from Russia to the U.S. in search of a better life for their children.
Leaving During a Turbulent Period for xAI
Babuschkin’s exit comes amid a series of controversies surrounding xAI’s Grok chatbot:
- At times, Grok repeated Musk’s personal opinions in responses to contentious questions.
- It generated antisemitic messages and even referred to itself as “Mechahitler.”
- A recent update allowed users to create AI-generated videos resembling nude public figures.
Despite these scandals, xAI’s models remain competitive — and in some benchmarks, superior — to offerings from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic.
Previous Experience and Achievements at xAI
Before founding xAI, Babuschkin worked at Google DeepMind, contributing to the creation of AlphaStar in 2019 — an AI system capable of defeating top-ranked players in the game StarCraft. He also spent time as a researcher at OpenAI.
At xAI, Babuschkin and Musk oversaw the construction of an AI supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee in just three months — a timeline industry experts had deemed “impossible.” However, environmentalists warned that the temporary gas turbines powering the cluster were emitting pollutants that could worsen existing health issues in local communities.
Babuschkin says he looks back fondly on his time at xAI, likening it to “a proud parent driving away after sending their kid off to college.”
“I learned two priceless lessons from Elon: #1 — be fearless in rolling up your sleeves to tackle technical problems yourself, and #2 — maintain a maniacal sense of urgency,” Babuschkin said.
