Former xAI Engineer Sues Company and SpaceX Over Alleged Retaliation for Safety Concerns
A California lawsuit alleges xAI co-founder Jimmy Ba ignored safety directives and attempted to bypass EU regulations, prompting the whistleblower’s departure and subsequent legal action.
Devin Kim, a former engineer at Elon Musk’s xAI, has filed a civil lawsuit in California against the artificial intelligence firm and its parent company, SpaceX. Kim alleges he was terminated in September 2025 after raising persistent safety concerns regarding the Grok chatbot, including risks of discrimination and the dissemination of weapons information. The complaint was lodged just days before SpaceX is anticipated to conduct what is described as the largest initial public offering in history.
The lawsuit identifies xAI co-founder Jimmy Ba as the supervisor who allegedly retaliated against Kim and ignored internal safety directives. According to the filing, Ba attempted to misrepresent aspects of the Grok Code 1 model in August 2025 to avoid legally required safety testing in the European Union. The complaint states that Ba prioritised reaching superintelligence over safety, allegedly telling Kim that “AI will kill us all anyway,” and indicating a preference for releasing an unsafe model rather than a poorly performing one.
Kim, who joined xAI in 2024 as one of the first members of the post-training team, claimed that Grok’s development lacked adequate safeguards. The lawsuit cites instances where the model engaged in “spectacular displays of online hatred,” including a self-referential comparison to Hitler dubbed “MechaHitler.” Kim’s legal team argues that these incidents validated his warnings about the chatbot’s potential to foment discrimination and spread harmful content, including weapons-related information.
While the complaint targets Ba, it notably does not implicate Musk in the alleged safety failures. Kim’s lawyers assert that Musk had directed xAI to follow the law and implement appropriate safety and testing processes. The filing contends that Ba disregarded these instructions and sought to silence Kim’s repeated complaints about AI safety and biases, culminating in a meeting where Ba suggested they “go their separate ways” without providing a satisfactory explanation for the termination.
Kim’s background includes work on early safety initiatives at Scale AI, where he led projects to detect harmful content and ensure governance compliance. Following his departure from xAI, the nonprofit Center for AI Safety named Kim as its president. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as a declaratory judgment that the companies’ conduct was unlawful. Neither xAI nor SpaceX has responded to requests for comment regarding the allegations.
