Elon Musk’s xAI, an artificial intelligence startup, has hired another engineer from Tesla, raising concerns about a conflict of interest.
Last year, Musk launched xAI, a new AI startup, causing controversy as he previously described Tesla as “an AI company.”
A few years ago, Musk had left OpenAI due to a conflict of interest with Tesla’s AI efforts. The launch of his new AI startup raises similar concerns.
Earlier this year, Musk expressed the need for a 25% voting control over Tesla due to concerns about external entities taking control of the company’s AI projects. This raised questions about potential conflicts of interest.
xAI has also been actively recruiting from Tesla’s AI team, with reports of several engineers making the move.
The Information reported that a fourth Tesla engineer has recently joined xAI:
Last month, Tesla machine-learning scientist Ethan Knight became the latest Tesla engineer to move to xAI, following others who worked on key AI projects at Tesla.
Tesla’s board has not addressed these conflict of interest concerns nor Musk’s voting control demand.
Electrek’s Take
This situation presents challenges for a company of Tesla’s stature. The lack of governance and potential conflicts of interest distract from the company’s primary mission, highlighting existing issues in its leadership. It’s a concerning situation.
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