Former xAI Employee Publicly Responds to Musk's "Rebuild" Comments: Was Threatened by Supervisor for Collecting User Suggestions to Improve Grok, "Everyone I Know Has Left"

According to CoinWorld, based on monitoring by 1M AI News, former xAI employee Benjamin De Kraker posted a lengthy response on X today to Musk’s tweet claiming “xAI was not built well from the start and is being rebuilt from the ground up,” detailing his experience at xAI. De Kraker said that when he joined, xAI emphasized a “flat structure” and “initiative,” and he used his attention to AI on X to publicly solicit user suggestions for improving Grok. The post unexpectedly went viral, and after being retweeted by id Software founder John Carmack, many suggestions flooded in. However, the next day he received a threatening email from his supervisor, demanding he delete all posts, and his X account was suspended by the company. De Kraker stated that xAI is “full of middle managers,” and employees come in with enthusiasm but are suppressed by management. He said the supervisor who threatened him has since left, and “everyone I knew at xAI has left.” In February 2025, De Kraker was asked by the company to delete a post ranking AI model programming abilities on X (mentioning an unreleased Grok 3). When he refused, he resigned, an incident that was reported by multiple tech media outlets at the time.