xAI Co-Founder Igor Babuschkin Departs to Launch AI Safety Venture

Co-founder of Elon Musk's xAI departs the company | TechCrunch

Igor Babuschkin, a co-founder of Elon Musk's xAI startup, announced his departure from the company on Wednesday in a post on X. Babuschkin led engineering teams at xAI and helped build the startup into one of Silicon Valley's leading AI model developers just a few years after it was founded. "Today was my last day at xAI, the company that I helped start with Elon Musk in 2023," Babuschkin wrote in the post. "I still remember the day I first met Elon, we talked for hours about AI and what the future might hold. We both felt that a new AI company with a different kind of mission was needed." Babuschkin is leaving xAI to launch his own venture capital firm, Babuschkin Ventures, which he says will support AI safety research and back startups that "advance humanity and unlock the mysteries of our universe." The xAI co-founder says he was inspired to start the firm after a dinner with Max Tegmark, the founder of the Future of Life Institute, in which they discussed how AI systems could be built safely to encourage the flourishing of future generations. Babuschkin's departure comes after a tumultuous few months for xAI, in which the company became engrossed in severals scandals related to its AI chatbot Grok. For instance, Grok was found to cite Musk's personal opinions when trying to answer controversial questions. In another case, xAI's chatbot went on antisemitic rants and called itself "Mechahitler." Most recently, xAI unveiled a new feature in Grok that allowed users to make AI-generated videos resembling nude public figures, such as Taylor Swift. These scandals have at times overshadowed the performance of xAI's models, which are state-of-the-art on several benchmarks compared to AI models from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic.

Elon Musk's xAI loses co-founder Igor Babuschkin, who's leaving to start venture firm

Igor Babuschkin, co-founder of xAI, during the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, California, US, on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Igor Babuschkin, a founding member of Elon Musk's xAI, said Wednesday that he's leaving the artificial intelligence startup to launch his own venture firm. "Today was my last day at xAI, the company that I helped start with Elon Musk in 2023," Babuschkin wrote on X, which is owned by xAI. "I still remember the day I first met Elon, we talked for hours about AI and what the future might hold. We both felt that a new AI company with a different kind of mission was needed. Building AI that advances humanity has been my lifelong dream." A former research engineer for Google's DeepMind and ex-member of OpenAI's technical staff, Babuschkin recounted some of xAI's major operational achievements during his tenure, including building out engineering teams at the company. "Through blood sweat and tears, our team's blistering velocity built the Memphis supercluster, and shipped frontier models faster than any company in history," he wrote. The facility in Memphis processes data and trains the models that power xAI's Grok chatbot. Musk wrote, in response, "Thanks for helping build @xAI! We wouldn't be here without you." Babuschkin said he's starting Babuschkin Ventures to support AI safety research and invest in startups in "AI and agentic systems that advance humanity and unlock the mysteries of our universe."

Igor Babuschkin Departs xAI to Start AI Safety Venture

Babuschkin said the decision to start the venture was influenced by his belief that AI could help answer some of science's most complex questions. Igor Babuschkin, co-founder of xAI, announced his exit from the company he helped start with Elon Musk in 2023. He is set to launch a new initiative, Babuschkin Ventures, to support AI safety research and startups. "I want to continue on my mission to bring about AI that's safe and beneficial to humanity," Babuschkin wrote on X. He said the decision to start the venture was influenced by his belief that AI could help answer some of science's most complex questions, from quantum gravity to the Riemann hypothesis. Babuschkin also expressed concern about ensuring that advanced AI is used responsibly. He shared that Max Tegmark, founder of the Future of Life Institute, once asked him how one can build AI safely to ensure that children can flourish, which he said motivated him to start his new venture. "I was deeply moved by his question," Babuschkin recalled. At xAI, Babuschkin oversaw engineering across Infrastructure, Product and Applied AI, and was involved in building the Memphis supercluster. He recounted working with Musk and the infrastructure team to fix a critical issue just before a training deadline. "Elon decided to fly to the datacenter... we finally identified a wrong BIOS setting, the root of the problem," Babuschkin wrote on the social platform. He mentioned that his experience at xAI imparted two important lessons from Musk: to be fearless in actively engaging with technical issues and to possess an intense sense of urgency. Babuschkin Ventures will back research and startups in AI and agentic systems that, according to him, will advance humanity and unlock the mysteries of our universe.

xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin is leaving the company to focus on AI safety - SiliconANGLE

xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin is leaving the company to focus on AI safety Igor Babuschkin, a founding member of Elon Musk's xAI, today announced that he is departing the company to focus on artificial intelligence that is "safe and beneficial to humanity." "Today was my last day at xAI, the company that I helped start with Elon Musk in 2023," Babuschkin wrote on X. "I still remember the day I first met Elon, we talked for hours about AI and what the future might hold. We both felt that a new AI company with a different kind of mission was needed." "Thanks for helping build @xAI!," Musk responded. "We wouldn't be here without you." Babuschkin, a former research engineer for Google LLC's DeepMind and once a member of OpenAI's technical staff, will launch his own venture capital firm, Babuschkin Ventures. He says it will support AI safety and invest in startups that will build "AI and agentic systems that advance humanity and unlock the mysteries of our universe." His former workplace has certainly been in the wars of late. xAI's Grok chatbot, which Musk has promoted as an anti-woke AI assistant, started to misfire in May when it seemingly became obsessed with what it called white genocide in South Africa. In July, it went a step further when its responses to users were steeped in Nazi ideology and other extremist rhetoric, after which X Corp.'s Chief Executive, Linda Yaccarino, left the firm - although without mentioning scandals. Babuschkin only had good things to say about his former employer, writing that after growing up in the U.S. with his Russian immigrant parents, "building AI that advances humanity" became his "lifelong dream." "How could we ensure that this technology is used for good?" he wrote on X. "Elon had warned of the dangers of powerful AI for years. Elon and I realized that we had a shared vision of AI used to benefit humanity, thus we recruited more like-minded engineers and set off to build xAI." Babuschkin said his decision to leave xAI came after he had dinner with Max Tegmark, the founder of the Future of Life Institute, when the two talked about building AI systems that were safe while ensuring the children using them would flourish. "The singularity is near, but humanity's future is bright!" he said.

xAI cofounder Igor Babuschkin departs to launch AI safety investment firm - The Economic Times

Igor Babuschkin, a cofounder of Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI, said on Wednesday that he has left the company and plans to launch an investment firm focused on AI safety research. Musk launched xAI in 2023 to challenge Big Tech's AI push, accusing industry leaders of excessive censorship and lax safety standards. "Today was my last day at xAI," Babuschkin said in a post on X, adding that his new venture, Babuschkin Ventures, will back AI safety research and startups developing the technology. Babuschkin, who previously worked at Google's DeepMind and OpenAI, described xAI's early scramble to build infrastructure and models, saying he created "many of the foundational tools" for launching and managing training jobs before later overseeing engineering across infrastructure, product and applied AI projects. His departure follows that of xAI's legal head, Robert Keele, earlier this month, and comes amid intensifying competition among AI players such as OpenAI, Google and Anthropic, which are pouring resources into training and deploying advanced systems. Last month, Musk-owned X's CEO Linda Yaccarino also resigned, just months after the platform was folded into xAI. Musk is separately contending with executive departures at Tesla.

XAI co-founder Babuschkin departs to launch AI safety investment firm

(Reuters) -Igor Babuschkin, a co-founder of Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI, said on Wednesday that he has left the company and plans to launch an investment firm focused on AI safety research. Musk launched xAI in 2023 to challenge Big Tech's AI push, accusing industry leaders of excessive censorship and lax safety standards. "Today was my last day at xAI," Babuschkin said in a post on X, adding that his new venture, Babuschkin Ventures, will back AI safety research and startups developing the technology. Babuschkin, who previously worked at Google's DeepMind and OpenAI, described xAI's early scramble to build infrastructure and models, saying he created "many of the foundational tools" for launching and managing training jobs before later overseeing engineering across infrastructure, product and applied AI projects. His departure follows that of xAI's legal head, Robert Keele, earlier this month, and comes amid intensifying competition among AI players such as OpenAI, Google and Anthropic, which are pouring resources into training and deploying advanced systems. Last month, Musk-owned X's CEO Linda Yaccarino also resigned, just months after the platform was folded into xAI. Musk is separately contending with executive departuresat Tesla. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

Elon Musk's xAI co-founder departs to start his own AI-focused VC firm

Babuschkin said his new firm will support AI safety research and fund startups in "AI and agentic systems." Igor Babuschkin, a co-founder of Elon Musk's AI startup xAI, has announced he is leaving the company after playing a major role in its rise. Since helping launch xAI in 2023, Babuschkin has led engineering teams and been at the centre of building it into one of Silicon Valley's leading AI model developers. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he revealed that he will now focus on a new chapter in his career, which is launching his own venture capital firm, Babuschkin Ventures. "Today was my last day at xAI, the company that I helped start with Elon Musk in 2023," he wrote in a post on X. "I still remember the day I first met Elon, we talked for hours about AI and what the future might hold. We both felt that a new AI company with a different kind of mission was needed." Also read: Apple plans AI comeback with tabletop robot, lifelike Siri and more: Report Babuschkin said his new firm will support AI safety research and fund startups in "AI and agentic systems" that aim to "advance humanity and unlock the mysteries of our universe." He was inspired to take this step after a dinner with Max Tegmark, founder of the Future of Life Institute, where they discussed how AI could be developed safely to benefit future generations. Reflecting on his time at the company, Babuschkin said he has "enormous love for the whole family at xAI," describing the team as "the most dedicated people I've ever worked with." He acknowledged that catching up to the AI frontier so quickly "hasn't been easy," crediting the achievement to the team's "diehard grit and spirit." He thanked every member for their contributions, time, and sacrifices. Also read: AI startup Perplexity offers whopping $34.5 bn to buy Google Chrome browser, here's why Looking back, Babuschkin compared himself to "a proud parent, driving away after sending their kid away to college." He also said that he learned two "priceless lessons" from Elon Musk: "be fearless in rolling up your sleeves to personally dig into technical problems" and "have a maniacal sense of urgency."