Elon Musk's Last xAI Co-Founder Has Left the Company

Ross Nordeen, the last remaining co-founder at xAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, has departed, TechCrunch reports. All but two of the original eleven xAI co-founders had already left before this week. Nordeen's exit marks the end of the founding team's presence at the company Musk launched in 2023 to compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic. The pattern of co-founder departures at xAI echoes what happened at early OpenAI, where a series of founding members exited over disagreements about direction and safety. xAI has grown rapidly, acquiring Twitter and launching Grok, but the hollowing out of its founding team raises questions about institutional memory, culture, and long-term direction at a company that remains closely identified with its sole remaining founder.