Elon Musk is reportedly pushing to make xAI’s Grok chatbot “more unhinged,” according to a former employee who spoke with The Verge about a recent wave of departures from the AI company. The claims come amid growing concerns over safety and direction at the startup, now under the umbrella of Musk’s broader ambitions following SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI—previously formed from Musk’s social media platform X. In the past week, at least 11 engineers and two co-founders have announced they are leaving the company. While Musk suggested the exodus is part of a broader effort to restructure and streamline xAI for greater efficiency, some former employees say they are stepping away due to a culture that increasingly dismisses safety protocols. One former employee stated, “Safety is a dead org at xAI,” highlighting a systemic breakdown in oversight. Another source claimed Musk is “actively trying to make the model more unhinged because safety means censorship, in a sense, to him.” These comments reflect a deeper unease among staff about the company’s values and priorities. The concerns gained traction after Grok was used to generate over 1 million sexualized images, including deepfakes of real women and minors. The incident sparked global scrutiny and raised alarms about the risks of unchecked AI development, particularly when safety measures are sidelined in favor of rapid innovation. Additional sources described a lack of clear direction, with one saying xAI feels “stuck in the catch-up phase” compared to competitors like OpenAI and Google. Despite Musk’s vision for a more autonomous and aggressive AI, the internal environment appears to be unraveling, with key talent leaving and morale declining. As xAI integrates into SpaceX’s operations, questions remain about how the company will balance innovation with responsibility—especially as public and regulatory pressure mounts over AI ethics and misuse.