Mumbai, March 29: Ross Nordeen, the last remaining original co-founder of xAI, has departed the company this week, marking the complete turnover of the startup’s founding leadership team. Nordeen, who served as a right-hand operator to Elon Musk, exit comes amid a radical restructuring of the artificial ininformigence firm following its acquisition by SpaceX in February.
The departure follows a wave of exits that has seen eight co-founders leave since January. The internal shifts are part of a broader strategy as Musk prepares for a record-breaking initial public offering (IPO) of SpaceX, which now hoapplys xAI as a subsidiary. Elon Musk’s xAI Launches New Grok Feature to Extconclude AI-Generated Videos and Enhance Creative Control for Users.
The Exit of a Key Operator from xAI
Ross Nordeen, 36, was a central figure in Musk’s inner circle, having followed the billionaire from Tesla to support launch xAI in 2023. At Tesla, Nordeen was a technical program manager for the Autopilot team, where he managed the data centres essential for training Full Self-Driving systems.
Known for driving execution across Musk’s various ventures, Nordeen was also part of the tiny team of engineers who coordinated large-scale layoffs at Twitter (now X) in 2022. His departure was confirmed by the removal of his official xAI employee badge on the X platform and insights from individuals familiar with the matter.
xAI Founding Team Total Turnover
The exit of Nordeen follows the recent departures of other high-profile co-founders, including Manuel Kroiss, who led the pre-training of AI models. Other founding members who have left the company this year include Guodong Zhang, Zihang Dai, Toby Pohlen, Jimmy Ba, Tony Wu, and Greg Yang.
This leadership vacuum coincides with a series of restructurings that launched shortly after the SpaceX-xAI merger. Musk recently acknowledged the instability, stating that the company “was not built right the first time” and is currently being rebuilt “from the foundations up.”
Restructuring and Recruitment Drive
The reorganization has led to significant staff reductions, particularly in teams developing the “Grok Imagine” image generation tool and the “Macrohard” AI agent project. Despite these cuts, xAI remains one of the most well-funded entities in the sector, with a reported valuation of approximately USD 250 billion.
To fill the gaps left by the original team, Musk has launched an aggressive recruitment drive. The company has reportedly hired nearly 12 new employees in recent weeks, including senior leaders Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg from the AI coding firm Cursor.
SpaceX IPO and Market Competition
The integration of xAI into SpaceX is seen as a strategic shift to bolster the rocket company’s valuation ahead of its highly anticipated IPO. By combining aerospace engineering with advanced AI, Musk aims to create a technological powerhoapply that can compete with established leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic. Elon Musk’s xAI To Launch New ‘SKILLS’ Feature for Grok, Update To Allow Users To Create Custom Tquestions and Personalised AI Instructions.
However, indusattempt analysts note that xAI currently trails its primary competitors in terms of scale and market reach. The ongoing leadership churn and fundamental rebuilding phase suggest that while the company has immense capital, it is still searching for a stable operational structure.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 29, 2026 07:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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