Former xAI employee responds to Musk's "rebuilding" remarks: was threatened for soliciting suggestions to improve Grok, and everyone he knew has left.

Gate News reports that on March 13, former xAI employee Benjamin De Kraker posted a lengthy message on X in response to Musk’s tweet, “xAI was not built well at the start, rebuilding from the ground up,” detailing his experience at xAI. De Kraker said that when he joined, xAI emphasized a “flat structure” and “initiative,” and he used his influence in the AI field on X to publicly solicit user suggestions for improving Grok. The post unexpectedly went viral, and after John Carmack, founder of id Software, shared it, a large number of suggestions flooded in. However, the next day, he received a threatening email from his supervisor, demanding that he delete all posts, and his X account was suspended by the company. De Kraker stated that xAI is “full of middle managers,” and employees come in with enthusiasm but are suppressed by management. He said the supervisor who threatened him has since left, “Everyone I knew at xAI has left.” In February 2025, De Kraker was asked by the company to delete a post on X ranking AI model programming abilities (mentioning the unreleased Grok 3). When he refused, he chose to resign, an incident that was reported by multiple tech media outlets at the time.