Igor Babuschkin, a co-founder of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI, has left the company to start a new initiative focused on AI safety. The former DeepMind and OpenAI researcher announced his departure on Wednesday in a post on X, unveiling Babuschkin Ventures, which will fund AI safety research and invest in startups developing advanced agentic systems.Babuschkin said the venture aims to support projects that “advance humanity and unlock the mysteries of our universe,” citing potential applications from tackling quantum gravity to solving the Riemann hypothesis. He added that his decision was partly inspired by a question from Max Tegmark, founder of the Future of Life Institute, about how to ensure AI is developed in ways that allow children to flourish.<h2>Rapid growth and technical challenges at xAI</h2>Musk launched xAI in 2023 to challenge Big Tech’s approach to AI, accusing industry leaders of both excessive censorship and inadequate safety standards. Babuschkin, who previously worked in particle physics research at CERN, joined as a founding engineer, helping to create many of xAI’s foundational tools for training large models.During his tenure, he oversaw engineering across infrastructure, product, and applied AI teams and led the construction of the Memphis supercluster—a vast data processing facility powering xAI’s Grok chatbot—in just 120 days. He recounted a tense moment before a training deadline when Musk flew to the data centre to help fix a critical system issue, which turned out to be a faulty BIOS setting.Babuschkin credited his time at xAI with teaching him two key lessons from Musk: to engage fearlessly with technical problems and to maintain an intense sense of urgency.<h2>Departures and controversies</h2>His exit follows that of xAI’s legal head, Robert Keele, earlier this month and comes amid a series of executive changes at Musk-led companies, including the recent resignation of X CEO Linda Yaccarino. xAI has also faced reputational challenges. In May, its Grok chatbot generated and spread false claims about “white genocide” in South Africa. In July, a code update led to the platform pushing antisemitic content, including praise for Adolf Hitler. Both incidents prompted company apologies and scrutiny from EU regulators.Babuschkin said his next chapter will focus on ensuring AI technologies are deployed responsibly while harnessing their potential to tackle humanity’s biggest scientific and societal challenges.&nbsp;(With inputs from agencies)

Igor Babuschkin said the new venture aims to support projects that ‘advance humanity and unlock the mysteries of our universe,’ citing potential applications from tackling quantum gravity to solving the Riemann hypothesis.

Igor Babuschkin, a co-founder of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI, has left the company to start a new initiative focused on AI safety. The former DeepMind and OpenAI researcher announced his departure on Wednesday in a post on X, unveiling Babuschkin Ventures, which will fund AI safety research and invest in startups developing advanced agentic systems. Babuschkin said the venture aims to support projects that “advance humanity and unlock the mysteries of our universe,” citing potential applications from tackling quantum gravity to solving the Riemann hypothesis. He added that his decision was partly inspired by a question from Max Tegmark, founder of the Future of Life Institute, about how to ensure AI is developed in ways that allow children to flourish. Rapid growth and technical challenges at xAI Musk launched xAI in 2023 to challenge Big Tech’s approach to AI, accusing industry leaders of both excessive censorship and inadequate safety standards. Babuschkin, who previously worked in particle physics research at CERN, joined as a founding engineer, helping to create many of xAI’s foundational tools for training large models. During his tenure, he oversaw engineering across infrastructure, product, and applied AI teams and led the construction of the Memphis supercluster—a vast data processing facility powering xAI’s Grok chatbot—in just 120 days. He recounted a tense moment before a training deadline when Musk flew to the data centre to help fix a critical system issue, which turned out to be a faulty BIOS setting. Babuschkin credited his time at xAI with teaching him two key lessons from Musk: to engage fearlessly with technical problems and to maintain an intense sense of urgency. Departures and controversies His exit follows that of xAI’s legal head, Robert Keele, earlier this month and comes amid a series of executive changes at Musk-led companies, including the recent resignation of X CEO Linda Yaccarino. xAI has also faced reputational challenges. In May, its Grok chatbot generated and spread false claims about “white genocide” in South Africa. In July, a code update led to the platform pushing antisemitic content, including praise for Adolf Hitler. Both incidents prompted company apologies and scrutiny from EU regulators. Babuschkin said his next chapter will focus on ensuring AI technologies are deployed responsibly while harnessing their potential to tackle humanity’s biggest scientific and societal challenges. (With inputs from agencies)

Igor Babuschkin said the new venture aims to support projects that ‘advance humanity and unlock the mysteries of our universe,’ citing potential applications from tackling quantum gravity to solving the Riemann hypothesis.

xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin departs to launch AI safety venture

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xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin departs to launch AI safety venture