Tuesday · October 20, 2026

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xAI Leadership Overhaul Continues as Final Co-Founders Exit During Strategic Rebuild

Elon Musk’s AI company xAI has seen the departure of its remaining co-founders, marking a complete turnover of the original founding team. According to reports, Manuel Kroiss and Ross Nordeen have now exited the company, following earlier departures that had already reduced the founding group significantly.

Kroiss, who led pretraining efforts, and Nordeen, a close operational partner to Musk, were among the final two co-founders still in place. Nordeen previously joined from Tesla and was involved in operational restructuring efforts following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.

The exits come as Musk signals a broader reset of xAI, indicating the company is being rebuilt from the ground up. The move follows its integration into a wider structure alongside SpaceX and X, as part of a consolidated AI and technology strategy.

James Dargan
About the author
James Dargan

James Dargan is a writer and researcher at The AI Insider. His focus is on the AI startup ecosystem and he writes articles on the space that have a tone accessible to the average reader.

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