AI engineer Benjamin DeKraker announced his departure from Elon Musk’s startup xAI, citing a disagreement with management over a post on X.
I resigned from xAI tonight.
It makes me very sad, but was the right thing to do — and here’s why.xAI told me I either had to delete the post quoted below, or face being fired.
After reviewing everything and thinking a lot, I’ve decided that I’m not going to delete the post… https://t.co/8egdL0c8gc
— Benjamin De Kraker (@BenjaminDEKR) February 12, 2025
The contentious post, published by DeKraker on February 8, contained his personal ranking of popular AI assistants in terms of coding capabilities. The list placed the yet-to-be-released Grok 3 model from xAI in second place, following the ChatGPT lineup.
According to the developer, his employer requested the post’s removal, citing the disclosure of the new model’s existence. DeKraker believes this information is already public knowledge.
“For clarity, the post they asked me to delete is 100% my personal opinion. I don’t know how Grok 3 will compare to other leading models. I hope it will be good,” he noted.
The programmer emphasized that the company’s CEO had repeatedly publicly mentioned the existence of the new xAI model version.
“After reviewing everything and thinking carefully, I decided not to delete this post, which is undoubtedly a harmless personal opinion,” DeKraker explained.
Some community members on X considered DeKraker’s actions inappropriate.
“Including an unreleased product you worked on in a ranking is at least somewhat inappropriate. It may be your opinion, but it’s formed based on insider information,” noted one commentator.
Another user suggested that DeKraker’s conflict with his employer was not due to the disclosure of confidential information:
“You were fired because you rated competitors’ AI higher than your own.”
He added that comparing a product in development with already released models is incorrect.
xAI’s approach in this situation may contradict Musk’s stated policy of “complete freedom of speech” on the X platform.
In particular, in 2023, he offered assistance to any user facing unfair treatment from employers due to actions on the platform.
If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill.
No limit.
Please let us know.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2023
“If your employer unfairly treated you due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will cover your legal bill. No limits,” the entrepreneur stated at the time.
The billionaire has not commented on the situation.
Back in February, a group of investors led by Musk proposed to buy the non-profit operator of OpenAI for $97.4 billion, but the offer was declined.