xAI’s CFO Departs Amid Wave of Executive Turnover Following AI Chatbot Scandals and Leadership Shake-Up

Mike Liberatore, the chief financial officer of xAI, has left the company, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal. His departure marks the latest in a series of high-profile exits from Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup. Liberatore, a former executive at Airbnb, joined xAI in April and reportedly departed around the end of July. During his tenure, he played a key role in securing a $5 billion debt financing round and an additional $5 billion in equity funding—nearly half of which came from SpaceX. He also oversaw parts of xAI’s data center expansion in Memphis, a critical component of the company’s infrastructure growth. His exit follows the departure of Robert Keele, xAI’s general counsel, who left in August after less than a year with the company. Around the same time, senior legal counsel Raghu Rao also exited, according to the Journal. The departures come amid growing scrutiny over the company’s leadership stability and internal operations. In a separate development, Igor Babuschkin, one of xAI’s co-founders, announced in September that he was leaving to launch his own venture capital firm focused on AI safety research. His departure underscores a broader trend of key figures stepping away from the company. The exodus comes on the heels of other leadership changes, including the resignation of Linda Yaccarino, former CEO of X, in July. Her departure followed concerns about the behavior of Grok, xAI’s AI chatbot that is integrated into the X platform. xAI acquired X in late March, further consolidating its presence in the AI and social media space. The recent wave of departures raises questions about the company’s internal culture and long-term strategy as it races to keep pace with competitors in the fast-evolving AI landscape.