A former engineer at Elon Musk’s xAI has filed a lawsuit in opposition to the corporate and its mum or dad firm SpaceX, claiming he was fired for elevating considerations concerning 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 most important IPO in historical past.
Kim grew to become a distinguished voice for AI security whereas engaged on xAI’s AI chatbot Grok, based on the lawsuit seen by newsweblatest. He’s stated to have repeatedly complained that xAI didn’t prioritize security within the improvement of Grok, and Grok merchandise have since come underneath fireplace for a wide range 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 photographs.
The lawsuit additionally names Kim as a whistleblower involved about xAI’s alleged disregard for AI security, calling it “unlawful” in areas resembling 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 give attention to AI security started throughout her time at xAI. Whereas working at Scale AI, Kim labored on early security AI efforts, together with main a venture to create coaching knowledge for AI to coach methods to detect dangerous content material and cling to governance insurance policies. The Heart for AI Security, a nonprofit centered on AI dangers, named Kim final week as its president.
Curiously, the lawsuit doesn’t implicate Musk himself as the rationale for the shortage of security. Quite, Kim’s legal professionals say Musk instructed xAI to observe the legislation and implement correct security and testing processes. As an alternative, the allegations goal Mr. Kim’s boss, xAI co-founder Jimmy Barr, who left the corporate earlier this yr, saying Mr. Barr ignored Mr. Musk’s directives and retaliated in opposition to Mr. Kim for pushing for safeguards to be able 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 an alternative 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 rules throughout the launch of Grok Code 1, misrepresenting facets 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. In the end, Mr. Musk needed to intervene.”
In keeping with the criticism, Kim was scheduled to announce his findings the week of September 15, 2025, however Ba referred to as him to a gathering and instructed him, with out offering a passable motive, that they need to “go their separate methods.”
newsweblatest has reached out to Ba for remark.
Kim is in search of compensatory and punitive damages, in addition to a declaratory judgment that xAI and SpaceX’s actions have been illegal.
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