Elon Musk Appears to Now Be Firing the People Behind Grok

"Those people, who weren't named by BI, previously worked on the human data management team that oversaw the 1,500 or so workers and contractors that made up xAI's "AI tutor" team, which is essentially tasked with training Grok how to be more intelligent for anywhere from $35 to $65 per hour, per the company's career page. As BI reported earlier this year, those tutors have, to their chagrin, occasionally been asked to scan their faces for AI training purposes."

"Sifting through LinkedIn profiles associated with the names of the employees whose profiles had been deactivated, the website identified roughly a dozen people who had worked on Grok's human data managerial team. Many of them had posted on Slack as recently as September 5, the article notes. Among those whose Slacks were deactivated was a supervisor who oversaw the rest of the managers, BI continued - and they worked on data annotation at Tesla's Autopilot division prior to joining xAI."

"Along with those Slack deactivations, multiple employees told the website that workers have been individually called in for meetings with supervisors. In those one-on-ones, the workers have been asked - much like when Musk was working in Donald Trump's presidential administration earlier this year - what they've been working on and how they add value to xAI. Those meetings, one worker old BI, have caused a "sense of panic" among the tutors. xAI didn't respond to BI's request for comment, a common practice."

Slack screenshots show at least nine high-level data annotation accounts at xAI were deactivated over a weekend, signaling a major cull at the lab that built the Grok chatbot. Those deactivated managed xAI's human data team that oversaw roughly 1,500 workers and contractors in the "AI tutor" program, paid about $35–$65 per hour and tasked with training Grok. LinkedIn checks identified about a dozen profiles removed, and many had posted to Slack recently. A supervisor who oversaw other managers was among those deactivated; that supervisor previously worked on Tesla Autopilot data annotation. One-on-one meetings asking employees to justify their work have created panic. xAI did not respond to requests for comment.

Read at Futurism