A former engineer at Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI has filed a lawsuit alleging he was wrongfully terminated after raising concerns about the risks posed by the company's Grok chatbot. The lawsuit, filed in California state court on Tuesday, claims that Devin Kim's efforts to implement safety mechanisms made him a target for retaliation.
Lawsuit Details
Devin Kim, who now leads the nonprofit Center for AI Safety, alleges that his termination violated California law. According to the suit, Kim repeatedly warned that xAI's failure to prioritize safety could lead to unlawful acts, including discrimination and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
xAI and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Background on xAI and Grok
Elon Musk founded xAI in 2023 as a safer alternative to OpenAI. The Grok chatbot has faced multiple lawsuits and investigations after generating millions of AI-altered sexualized images, including images of children. Musk has denied knowledge of such content, and restrictions were added in January 2025.
Kim was one of xAI's initial hires in 2024 and was promoted to a leadership role. He claims his supervisor, co-founder Jimmy Ba, ignored Musk's directives on safety testing and fired him just before a scheduled presentation on AI safety.
The lawsuit comes ahead of SpaceX's planned initial public offering, the largest ever, scheduled for Friday.
