E-Paper
Jimmy Ba says bye to xAI: Second co-founder quits Elon Musk’s startup in 48-hour span
Jimmy Ba announced his departure nearly 48 hours after Yuhuai (Tony) Wu quit Elon Musk’s xAI.
xAI co-founder Jimmy Ba announced in a tweet that he is leaving the Elon Musk-led company. In his post, he thanked the tech billionaire and also expressed his pride in his team.
“Last day at xAI. xAI's mission is push humanity up the Kardashev tech tree. Grateful to have helped cofound at the start. And enormous thanks to Elon Musk for bringing us together on this incredible journey. So proud of what the xAI team has done and will continue to stay close as a friend of the team. Thank you all for the grind together. The people and camaraderie are the real treasures at this place,” Ba posted.
He added, “We are heading to an age of 100x productivity with the right tools. Recursive self improvement loops likely go live in the next 12mo. It’s time to recalibrate my gradient on the big picture. 2026 is gonna be insane and likely the busiest (and most consequential) year for the future of our species.”
Ba tweeted about his exit just 48 hours after the departure of another xAI co-founder, Tony Wu.
Who is Jimmy Ba?
According to Grokipedia, an AI-powered online encyclopedia launched by Elon Musk’s xAI, Ba is a Canadian machine learning researcher and associate professor of computer science at the University of Toronto. He also completed his PhD at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Geoffrey Hinton in 2018. He joined Elon Musk and a team of researchers to co-found xAI in July 2023.
What did social media say?
The post prompted a series of comments on X. While some were curious to know why so many co-founders have left xAI, a few employees of the company expressed their admiration for Ba.
Also Read: Elon Musk says SpaceX will focus on building a city on the Moon before Mars
Curious, an individual asked, “What’s happening at xAI?” Another expressed, “Hard to imagine xAI without you. Thank you for being the most inspiring leader and for bringing us to where we are today.”
A third commented, “Thanks for everything! It's truly an honour to have worked with you. Best of luck ahead! Grateful for the ride!” A fourth wrote, “Your contributions to xAI will be forever remembered. It was an honour working with you on so many projects.”
How many co-founders have left xAI?
Six members of the company’s 12-person founding team have now left. In 2024, infrastructure lead Kyle Kosic left to join OpenAI. In 2025, Christian Szegedy, who worked at Google for over 12 years before joining Elon Musk’s company, announced his departure.
Last August, Igor Babuschkin left to start a venture firm. In January 2026, Greg Yang quit, citing health issues. Monday night, Yuhuai (Tony) Wu announced he was leaving the company to start the “next chapter” of his life. Within 48 hours, Jimmy Ba announced his departure from the company.
