xAI loses second co-founder in two days amid SpaceX deal

xAI is taking another visible hit to its founding bench: reports say influential researcher Jimmy Ba is the latest co-founder to leave—making it two co-founder exits in roughly two days. In tech, that kind of clustered departure cadence doesn’t read as “random”—it reads as a pressure-release valve during an internal restructure.

The timing matters: these exits are being framed in the wake of a SpaceX merger involving xAI, which means the churn is happening exactly as the company’s identity, reporting lines, and power center are being re-written. That’s when people who helped build the mission decide whether they still recognize it.