As OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google race to fortify their AI guardrails, Elon Musk appears to be loosening his.
Former xAI insiders say the billionaire is pushing to make his chatbot “more unhinged,” framing safety measures as censorship rather than protection. According to employees who spoke anonymously, the company’s dedicated safety function has effectively been dismantled, replaced by a high-pressure, top-down culture where decisions flow directly from Musk.
Supporters argue that fewer constraints could unlock bolder innovation. Critics warn it could invite reputational, regulatory, and competitive fallout. With a potential 2026 IPO on the horizon, the stakes for xAI’s strategy are only getting higher.
‘Safety is a dead org at xAI’
While Musk frames the exits as a reorganization that “unfortunately required parting ways with some people,” insiders tell a different story. Former employees who spoke to The Verge expressed disillusionment over a perceived total disregard for safety protocols.
One source, who requested anonymity, claimed that leadership is leaning into NSFW (Not Safe For Work) content because the safety team has effectively been dissolved.
“Safety is a dead org at xAI,” the source said. Another former staffer was even more blunt about Musk’s personal influence, telling The Verge that Musk “actively is trying to make the model more unhinged because safety means censorship, in a sense, to him.”
According to these sources, the workplace culture has shifted toward a high-pressure, top-down environment where technical decisions are often made in a company-wide group chat. “You survive by shutting up and doing what Elon wants,” one source told The Verge.
Musk has pushed back against the “no safety” narrative. In a recent post on X, he defended the lack of a dedicated safety department by arguing that “everyone’s job is safety.” He compared the structure to his other companies, noting that “Tesla has no safety team and is the safest car” and “SpaceX has no safety team and has the safest rocket.”
Stuck in the ‘catch-up phase’
Internal frustration also seems to stem from xAI’s struggle to find its unique edge.
Despite rapid iterations, some engineers felt they were simply chasing the shadows of OpenAI and Anthropic. One former employee told The Verge, “Although we were iterating really fast, we were never able to get to a point like, ‘Oh, we’ve made a step function change over what OpenAI or Anthropic or other companies had released.’”
The second source echoed this frustration, suggesting the company’s conservative approach to innovation was fundamentally flawed.
“Trying to do what OpenAI was doing a year ago is not how you beat OpenAI,” he said. “Everything is a catch-up. There’s almost zero risky bet. If something hasn’t been done before we’re not going to do it.”
That lack of originality has reportedly driven some employees to strike out on their own. Former staffer Vahid Kazemi wrote on X that “all AI labs are building the exact same thing, and it’s boring. I think there’s room for more creativity. So, I’m starting something new.”
Bigger stakes ahead
The merger with SpaceX reportedly issued billions in new shares to xAI shareholders, giving some employees more financial flexibility as they depart. At the same time, Musk’s integrated AI-and-space vision has raised expectations about the company’s long-term direction.
Supporters argue that folding AI, social media, rockets, and satellite infrastructure into a single umbrella could create powerful synergies. Critics, however, see the recent exits and safety concerns as warning signs.
As xAI marches toward a potential IPO in mid-2026, the tech world is watching to see whether this “unhinged” strategy will deliver the breakthrough Musk is betting on or whether the loss of founding talent will leave the company permanently in second place.
Elon Musk blasted rival AI firm Anthropic as “misanthropic and evil” after its $380 billion valuation, escalating the public feud in the race for AI supremacy.