Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
the critical crossroads, the Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The
Boring Company, and Neurolink. I'm your host, Will Walden.
Elon Musk is losing top executives across Tesla and XAI,
and the exits are piling up faster than replacements.
Why are so many of his closest lieutenants bailing on roles
that once gave them influence over some of the world's most
valuable companies? Over the past year, Musk has
seen a steady churn of senior leadership from nearly every
part of his empire. Key figures from Tesla's U.S.
sales team, the battery division, public policy office,
and AI units have walked out on him.
Now X AI the pace is even more aggressive with both the CFO and
the general counsel quitting within days of each other.
These aren't mid tier managers leaving for a better position
after a few years. Many of them are the same people
must personally tapped to drive Tesla's long term bets and XA is
newest experiments. Now the reasons behind the
departure split into two camps, fatigue and friction.
Some left after years of intense work, saying they wanted to
build something new or take some time off.
But others are leaving completely burned out, fed up
with Musk's politics, are unwilling to keep pace with
constant layoffs and sudden shifts in strategy.
Several who recently quit described a culture of
instability where priorities change without warning and
Musk's personal feuds bleed into daily work expectations.
Now inside Tesla, Musk sudden shift away from EVs toward
robotics and AI has left veterans of that company
confused and frustrated. In April 2024, the company laid
off 14,000 people and cancelled its low cost EV program, known
internally as NV 91 or Model 2. And that project was seen as
essential for Tesla's original mission of global
electrification. It's shut down triggered exits
from Daniel Ho, the executive who led the initiative, as well
as other longtime leaders in charging, powertrain and battery
systems. Now at XAI, Musk's approach to
competition and leadership has created a lot of tension.
CFO Mike Libertar, he quit after only three months and moved to
Open AI, the company that Musk also Co founded and now sees as
a threat. He publicly said he worked more
than 120 hours a week and spent every day in the office.
That's not a way to live, people.
General Counsel Robert Kiel left after 16 months, posting an AI
generated video of a man shoveling coal while screaming.
Both were among a string of senior staff who questioned
whether Musk's intensity had crossed into dysfunction.
The multiple recent exits at X AI said the rivalry with Open AI
had become a complete obsession from Musk.
Since chat GP TS release in 2022, Musk has pushed his teams
to match or surpass it at all costs.
Now, some insiders believe the obsession drives rushed feature
launches and creates a culture where dissent is punished.
Over the summer, Grok, which is XA is chatbot generated pro
Hitler content after Musk ordered it to be less woke.
How that change led to public criticism and more internal
resignations. People don't want to be
associated with that. That's disgusting.
So I would leave too. I don't want any part of that.
Nobody wants any part of that. And if you do, you're a loser.
Now saying that working there makes you a loser, but having
anything to do with pro Hitler content makes you a loser.
That's all I'm saying. Let me know in the comments of
whatever podcast platform you're on if you think that makes you a
loser to be associated with a company.
Even if it was a flaw and it was just a programming error, you
don't want any part of that, right?
I wouldn't want my family. I wouldn't want anybody involved
with me to have any part of that.
It's not the right thing. Now there's also politics here.
They play a role in attrition. Musk's public support for the
president, Donald Trump and far right provocateurs has made
internal conversations difficult for some employees.
Several said they didn't want to keep defending Musk to their
families. A veteran of the company who
recently left said every team meeting now carries political
weight. And those who feel morally
conflicted about Musk's behavior are already just trying to find
another job. They're halfway out the door.
They're waiting for that opportunity.
Tesla has also lost institutional knowledge in areas
Musk once prioritize. The lead on Optimus AI Ashish
Kumar left for Meta. Milan Kovac, who oversaw the
overall humanoid robot program, also left.
Vineet Matad, who spent 18 years in Tesla's battery group, left
in April. Those aren't roles that can be
filled quickly though. Those are roles that you need to
be a senior in, you need to have knowledge and there's just a few
people that can do those things. Many of the people walking out
helped shape the long term technology road map that Musk is
still trying to execute now. Others, like Amid AFSAR, weren't
just employees, they were close confidants.
Had Musk's ear ran sales and operations in North America was
also described as Musk's executioner.
His exit in June, followed by his deputy Troy Jones, marked
the end of a 15 year stretch of operational continuity.
Other exits came after Tesla's sales numbers fell and many
inside blame Musk for pushing away liberal customers with this
political posts. The chaos isn't limited to Tesla
and XAI. Engineers X has seen an entire
layer of product and comms leadership vanish.
Linda Yaccarino resigned the CEO.
She resigned in July after growing tired of being
sidelined. The Co founder of XAI quit a
month later to start an AI safety nonprofit.
What happened there to make that happen?
Product heads Hefei Wang and Patrick Tribert.
I'm sorry about the names. I'm probably butchering them.
I don't know exactly who these people are, how to pronounce
their names. So, you know, they left as well.
Engineering leaders were also poached by open AI.
So loyal members matter to Musk more than the structure of the
company. He's going to find other people
to fill those roles. And according to former
executive Musk's, he makes all the critical calls and surrounds
himself with people willing to just go along with it.
You know, if he makes a decision, all right, let's do
it. That sounds like a great idea.
Mr. Musk 1 described the environment as rigid with no
tolerance for dissent. He's the boss, he's the alpha.
Anyone who doesn't treat him that way finds a way to get
deleted now. Despite the turnover though,
Musk keeps going on. He recently installed a hologram
of Annie and which is a flirtatious AI character whose
in app behavior sparked criticism in the lobby of XAIS
office. Musk plans to keep building his
vision of the future, even if many of the people who helped
him get this far and make his multiple billions of dollars are
no longer around to see it through.
They made their paydays too, of course he made a lot more than
they did. Robert Denham, who is the chair
of Tesla, said people focus too much on exits and not enough on
new hires, but the pace and pattern of these departures
suggests something deeper than normal attrition.
They're not isolated. Things have changed.
The warnings from inside the machine that the machine may be
changing. Elon Musk is still in control
there, but the foundation is definitely shaking.
The bones are getting rattled. We'll have all the information
about what's going on in his companies, so stay tuned and
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