Igor Babuschkin, co-founder of Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup Xai, left the company to launch his own venture focused on AI safety. “Today was my last day at Xai,” Babuschkin wrote to X, announcing that his new company, Babuschkin Ventures, will fund research and startups working on safe artificial intelligence. Babuschkin, who previously worked at Google's Deepmind and Openai, said he helped shape Xai from the earliest days. He recalls the “early scramble” to build infrastructure and AI models, and noted that he created many of the “basic tools” used to launch and manage training jobs. He later oversaw engineering across infrastructure, products and applied AI projects.
His exit is another high-profile starting point for Xai, and Musk launched in 2023 to counter what is considered Big Tech's dominance in AI. Musk frequently criticizes industry leaders, accusing them of overcensorship and accusing them of not taking safety concerns seriously enough.
The announcement follows the resignation of Xai legal director Robert Keele earlier this month. Also coming a few weeks after Linda Yaccarino resigned as CEO of X. Musk is also facing a change in leadership at his electric vehicle company, Tesla.
Musk responds directly to Babushkin's post and writes in X: “Lucky, Igor.” The short message was seen by many of his followers as unusually sincerely viewed by musk's history of keen interactions with former colleagues.
Babuschkin's departure comes amidst fierce competition in the AI sector. Openai, Google and humanity are rapidly expanding their capabilities and investing heavily in advanced systems that could shape the future of technology. Xai has established itself as a challenger and promotes chatbot Grok as a more open alternative to rivals like ChatGpt.
Babuschkin has not revealed a detailed plan for Babuschkin Ventures, but the focus on AI safety is in line with the growing push between researchers and regulators to ensure strong AI systems are developed responsibly.
For Musk, this change adds another challenge to maintaining top talent at Xai, pushing them to compete with companies with far deeper resources. For Babuschkin, it marks the shift from building AI products to funding projects aimed at making AI safer, which could attract strong interest from investors and policymakers.
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