Why top talent is walking away from OpenAI and xAI

Loading the player… <p class="wp-block-paragraph">AI companies have been hemorrhaging talent the past few weeks. Half of xAI’s founding team has left the company — some on their own, others through “restructuring” — while OpenAI is facing its own shakeups, from the <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/11/openai-disbands-mission-alignment-team-which-focused-on-safe-and-trustworthy-ai-development/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">disbanding of its mission alignment team</a> to the firing of a policy exec who opposed its “adult mode” feature. </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Watch as TechCrunch’s <a href="https://techcrunch.com/podcasts/equity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Equity</a> podcast hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into the week’s biggest deals and departures, from billion-dollar bets on fusion and robotics to the tech exodus reshaping AI companies. </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Subscribe to Equity on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@TechCrunch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">YouTube</a>,<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1215439780" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> Apple Podcasts</a>,<a href="https://overcast.fm/itunes1215439780/equity" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> Overcast</a>,<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5IEYLip3eDppcOmy5DmphC?si=rZDFHv2sQUul_g94iCRgpQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> Spotify</a> and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on<a href="https://twitter.com/EquityPod" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> X</a> and<a href="https://www.threads.net/@equitypod" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> Threads</a>, at @EquityPod. </p>