A former xAI engineer has filed a lawsuit against xAI and SpaceX, alleging he was terminated after raising concerns about AI safety related to Grok, according to TechCrunch AI. The lawsuit claims the engineer was fired for voicing these safety alarms just days before SpaceX’s historic initial public offering.
The legal action targets both xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk, and SpaceX, though the specific connection between the two companies in the termination is not detailed in the available reporting. Grok is xAI’s AI chatbot product that has been at the center of the company’s development efforts.
According to TechCrunch AI, the lawsuit centers on allegations that the engineer’s termination was retaliatory in nature, directly connected to raising AI safety concerns about Grok’s development or deployment. The specific nature of the safety concerns raised by the engineer has not been disclosed in the initial reporting of the lawsuit.