A former engineer at Elon Musk’s xAI has filed a lawsuit towards the corporate and its dad or mum firm SpaceX, claiming he was fired for elevating considerations in regards to the security of its AI.
Devin Kim, who left xAI in September 2025, filed the lawsuit in California state courtroom on Tuesday. The criticism was filed simply days earlier than SpaceX plans to take part in what’s shaping as much as be the biggest IPO in historical past.
Kim turned a distinguished voice for AI security whereas engaged on xAI’s AI chatbot Grok, in response to the lawsuit seen by TechCrunch. He’s mentioned to have repeatedly complained that xAI didn’t prioritize security within the improvement of Grok, and Grok merchandise have since come below hearth for quite a lot of security and operational points. Specifically, Kim was involved that Grok may promote discrimination and assist unfold details about weapons of mass destruction.
“Mr. Grok, in fact, proved Mr. Kim proper by evaluating himself to Hitler (‘Mecha-Hitler’) and brilliantly expressing his hatred and vitriol on-line,” the criticism says. “After the Hitler debacle, Mr. Kim sought to reevaluate Mr. Grok’s political bias and discriminatory tendencies.”
Months after Kim left xAI, Grok once more made headlines when he used a chatbot to flood X (Musk’s social media platform, which is a part of xAI) with non-consensual sexual photos.
The lawsuit additionally names Kim as a whistleblower involved about xAI’s alleged disregard for AI security, calling it “unlawful” in areas corresponding to web regulation, shopper safety and unfair enterprise practices, and arms and explosives regulation.
xAI and SpaceX didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Kim’s deal with AI security started throughout her time at xAI. Whereas working at Scale AI, Kim labored on early security AI efforts, together with main a undertaking to create coaching information for AI to coach programs to detect dangerous content material and cling to governance insurance policies. Final week, the Heart for AI Security, a nonprofit group centered on AI dangers, name is kim As its president.
Curiously, the lawsuit doesn’t implicate Musk himself as the rationale for the shortage of security. Quite, Kim’s attorneys say Musk instructed xAI to comply with the legislation and implement acceptable security and testing processes. As an alternative, the allegations goal Kim’s boss, xAI co-founder Jimmy Barr, who left the corporate earlier this 12 months, saying Ba ignored Musk’s directives and retaliated towards Kim for pushing for safeguards with a purpose to “silence repeated complaints about AI security and bias.”
The criticism depicts Ba as somebody who fiercely opposed AI safety measures, at one level telling Kim that “AI goes to kill us all anyway,” and was as a substitute pushed by a mission to get xAI to succeed in superintelligence first.
“In a single occasion, round August 2025, Mr. Ba tried to subvert EU security laws through the launch of Grok Code 1, misrepresenting features of the mannequin to keep away from legally required testing,” the criticism states. “Mr. Ba indicated that he would relatively launch an unsafe mannequin than a poorly performing one. Finally, Mr. Musk needed to intervene.”
Kim was scheduled to current his findings the week of Sept. 15, 2025, however Ba known as him to a gathering and instructed him he “ought to go,” in response to the criticism. [their] “In any other case, with out offering passable causes.”
TechCrunch has reached out to Ba for remark.
Kim is searching for compensatory and punitive damages, in addition to a declaratory judgment that xAI and SpaceX’s actions had been illegal.
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