{"id":1916,"date":"2026-06-12T12:10:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T12:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1916"},"modified":"2026-06-12T12:10:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T12:10:57","slug":"former-xai-staffer-says-he-was-fired-for-questioning-grok-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1916","title":{"rendered":"Former xAI staffer says he was fired for questioning Grok safety"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>By Madlin Mekelburg and Carmen Arroyo, Bloomberg<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A former artificial intelligence engineer at Elon Musk\u2019s xAI is suing the company, alleging that he was wrongfully fired for raising concerns about the safety of the firm\u2019s Grok chatbot.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1914\">Kurtenbach: World Cup 2026 wunderkind watch \u2014\u00a0who will be this summer\u2019s breakout stars?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In a lawsuit filed in California state court, Devin Kim claimed he repeatedly complained to his supervisors that the company was failing to prioritize safety while developing Grok. Kim says he was fired in September 2025, ahead of a planned presentation to xAI leadership about safety issues.<\/p>\n<p>Kim\u2019s claims come months after a global uproar over widespread usage of Grok to digitally undress people. Since then, regulators across Europe have sought to place limits on Grok. Some consumers, including influencer Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Musk\u2019s children, have sued the xAI.<\/p>\n<p>The company said in January that it disabled Grok\u2019s ability to create sexualized images of real people and that it was \u201ccommitted to making X a safe platform for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In his suit, Kim said that, while working on a project, he found that Grok \u201ctended to discriminate against certain racial groups while favoring others.\u201d He said he flagged the observation to his supervisors in various reports. Kim said he was also concerned that Grok could give users guidance on bomb-making or creating bioweapons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Kim believed that xAI\u2019s disregard for AI safety was unlawful,\u201d his lawyers said in the lawsuit. Noting the undressing scandal, they added, \u201cMr. Kim\u2019s concerns about xAI\u2019s model were not only well-grounded but proved remarkably prescient.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The complaint also names SpaceX, xAI\u2019s parent company, which is set to have its blockbuster initial public offering on Friday. The AI unit was at the center of the IPO\u2019s roadshow, with Musk touting AI satellites, data centers and a frontier lab that will help him create a vertically integrated AI conglomerate.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1912\">Massive fire destroys Tracy medical supply warehouse<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Neither xAI nor SpaceX immediately responded to requests for comment on Kim\u2019s suit.<\/p>\n<p>Before joining xAI, Kim, who previously worked at Scale AI, claims that he spoke about AI safety with executives. During those conversations, Kim said he \u201chighlighted the risks associated with rapidly advancing AI capabilities, and sought to understand xAI\u2019s approach to safety and risk mitigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But once he was at xAI, Kim claims his supervisor, co-founder Jimmy Ba, was dismissive of safety concerns. According to Kim, Ba didn\u2019t follow safety directives issued by Musk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAI will kill us all anyway,\u201d Ba allegedly said. Kim says it was Ba who fired him.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Ba, who didn\u2019t immediately respond to an email seeking comment, exited the firm in February following its merger with SpaceX. Since then, all of xAI\u2019s founding members except Musk have left along with dozens of engineers and specialists. Musk has since brought over staff from SpaceX\u2019s Starlink unit.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1910\">SpaceX IPO raises $75 billion in biggest debut of all time<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2013With assistance from Dana Hull.<\/p>\n<p>More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com<\/p>\n<p>\u00a92026 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Devin Kim\u2019s claims come months after a global uproar over widespread usage of Grok to digitally undress people<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former xAI staffer says he was fired for questioning Grok safety - 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