Elon Musk's AI startup partners have all left.

Author: Chen Junda; Source: Zhi Dongxi

Zhi Dongxi reported on March 29 that today, Ross Nordeen, co-founder of xAI, quietly removed his xAI employee certification from the social platform X and left the AI unicorn led by Musk. Thus, among the original 12 co-founders of xAI, only Musk remains.

▲ Nordeen’s xAI certification has disappeared (Image source: X platform)

Nordeen graduated from Michigan Technological University and is 36 years old. He has worked with Musk since the Tesla days. Before co-founding xAI, Nordeen served as the technical project manager for the Autopilot team at Tesla, involved in building data centers to train Tesla’s full self-driving system.

He was responsible for project scheduling, risk assessment, and promoting cross-departmental collaboration within Tesla’s machine learning team. He also assisted Musk with large-scale layoffs after Musk took over Twitter in 2022.

Since the establishment of xAI in July 2023, Nordeen has served as a co-founder and a core member of the technical team, responsible for coordinating priorities and participating in the strategic development and execution of key projects, with no direct reports, reporting to Musk, and serving as Musk’s capable assistant. In terms of domestic workplace language, he can be said to be Musk’s “direct line.”

During his time at xAI, Nordeen led negotiations for the Dogewave data center project, including discussions with the Saudi company Humain for large-scale rentals to support AI infrastructure expansion.

Nordeen may have a close personal relationship with Musk. The biography “Elon Musk” notes that Nordeen is a longtime friend of Musk’s cousin, James Musk.

Unlike other xAI co-founders who left, Nordeen’s departure was without a public letter or any formal statement. Instead, he posted a photo of himself hiking in the woods 4 hours ago. For a company known for its “hardcore” work pace, such leisure may itself signify a farewell.

▲ Nordeen posted a photo of himself hiking in the woods (Image source: X platform)

Among the 11 co-founders who left xAI, including Nordeen, 8 departed after January this year. The other 7 are Manuel Kroiss, Guodong Zhang, Zihang Dai, Toby Pohlen, Jimmy Ba, Yuhuai Wu, and Greg Yang.

The departure times of other xAI co-founders are more scattered. Kyle Kosic, who served as infrastructure director, left xAI in 2024 to join OpenAI; xAI co-founder and former DeepMind member Christian Szegedy left in February 2025; and Igor Babuschkin, a key figure behind Grok, left in 2025 to transition to the venture capital industry.

Some co-founders left due to illness, while others mentioned the pressure from xAI’s high-intensity work environment in their resignation letters. There are also reports that some co-founders left after being dismissed by Musk, such as Guodong Zhang, who previously led the Grok Code and Imagine teams.

In July 2023, these 12 co-founders previously live-streamed together on the X platform to address questions about xAI’s establishment, and now only Musk remains, which is quite poignant.

▲ The 12 co-founders of xAI live-streaming together

The collective departure of xAI’s co-founders is part of the company’s recent organizational adjustments. On February 3 of this year, Musk’s commercial space company SpaceX acquired xAI, and the combined valuation of the two companies could reach $1.25 trillion (approximately 8.64 trillion RMB). SpaceX has recently begun preparing for IPO-related matters and may initiate the IPO later this year.

However, compared to the soaring valuation, xAI’s R&D progress appears somewhat behind. In February of this year, technology media outlet The Information cited insiders saying that Musk was “increasingly dissatisfied” with the delays in releasing the next-generation Grok model. Meanwhile, xAI is burning through funds at an astonishing rate of nearly $1 billion per month.

In March, Musk tweeted about xAI’s issues, stating: “xAI initially went down the wrong path and is now rebuilding from scratch. Tesla went through the same thing back then.”

▲ Musk discussing xAI’s issues

Musk has already brought in external executives for xAI. He stated that xAI is actively recruiting new talent and focusing on candidates who were previously overlooked, having recruited nearly ten new employees in the past few weeks, including two senior leaders, Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg, from the AI programming company Cursor.

▲ Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg officially announced their joining SpaceX and xAI

Conclusion: Co-founders Depart, xAI Faces a Critical Turning Point

From a team of 12 co-founders to only Musk remaining, xAI has undergone significant upheaval in its core team in less than two years. The departure of co-founders can be understood as a common personnel turnover in startups during rapid expansion, but it also reflects the deep challenges xAI faces in strategic direction, resource integration, and management style.

Now, as the merger with SpaceX advances, xAI is entering a new stage of development, with the potential to restart with a larger capital base and organizational structure. However, soaring valuations cannot replace breakthroughs in products. In the increasingly competitive AI landscape, how to stabilize the core team and accelerate technology implementation remains a key issue that Musk must confront and resolve.