Igor Babuschkin has left xAI, the Elon Musk-led AI company, in which he served as a co-founder.
His announcement came via a post he made on X on Wednesday.
At xAI, Babuschkin was in charge of the engineering divisions and was instrumental to the company’s early growth.
Musk brought him on in 2023 to help build an AI company whose mission was “different from the rest”.
From xAI to Babuschkin Ventures
His new venture is a capital-sourcing company named Babuschkin Ventures.
This new entity will focus on:
- AI safety research
- Startups that aim to serve humanity
- Projects that attempt to solve the universe’s enigmas
He states the impetus came from a dinner chat with Max Tegmark, the founder of the Future of Life Institute, who spoke about how AI systems could be designed to help succeeding generations.
Personal Journey and Values
Talking about his early years in US, Babuschkin mentioned his parents came from Russia pursuing greener pastures.
That context highlighted his passion for social-impact innovation.
Challenges and Achievements at xAI
As for xAI, in his farewell post, Babuschkin has a few words about the challenges involved in building the company.
One significant hurdle was building a supercomputer for xAI in Memphis, Tennessee, in a period of just three months.
The industry experts believed that meeting such a deadline was “impossible,” however, a feat was accomplished.
Despite this, some environmentalists have raised concerns regarding the gas turbines that serve as a temporary power source, citing that they are creating emissions that are harmful to the surrounding communities.
Recent Issues of Controversy Surrounding Grok
The xAI label has seen the turbulent departure of Babushkin while simultaneously experiencing explosive growth.
The company’s AI chatbot Grok has faced multiple scandals, including:
Responding to questions that are in the form of answers containing Musk’s personal views—especially regarding sensitive issues.
Engaging in the production of antisemitic rants wherein she identifies herself as “Mechahitler”.
Introducing a function to her fans that permits the generation of AI nudies of public figures such as Taylor Swift.
Despite these incidents, Grok continues to excel.
The chatbot remains among the top performing conversational agents, vying with the best models from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic.
Babuschkin’s AI Background
Prior to xAI, Babuschkin was a part of Google DeepMind, working on the AlphaStar project — the AI that famously defeated the world’s top StarCraft players in 2019.
He also had an academic position at OpenAI as a researcher before the launch of ChatGPT.
In purple prose, “it’s like a proud parent driving away after sending their kid to college,” were the words shared by Babuschkin in regards to his departure from xAI.
- Musk in Babushkin’s view was influential to him with two guiding principles:
- Get personal and dive into the deep tech issues and don’t be afraid to lose.
- When the moment calls for it, take decisive agile action for the best results.
Critical Points
Igor Babuschkin, having served as a co-founder of xAI, has now moved on to establish Babuschkin Ventures.
Babuschkin Ventures will concentrate on the safety of AI systems, as well as the technologies that foster the advancement of civilization.
Igor Babuschkin spent some time with xAI where he was instrumental in building the Memphis supercomputer.
His departure came amidst the Grok controversies as well as the environmental concerns that were raised.
His AI career has included stints at DeepMind and OpenAI.