A former engineer has taken legal action against Elon Musk’s xAI and SpaceX, claiming he was terminated after raising alarm about safety lapses in the Grok AI model. The lawsuit lands just before SpaceX’s much-awaited initial public offering.
Devin Kim, who worked at xAI, filed a complaint in Santa Clara County Superior Court alleging that his superiors ignored his calls for stricter testing and better safeguards to prevent harmful responses from Grok. He highlighted risks like misinformation and bias that could stem from the chatbot’s outputs.
Kim’s attorneys stress this is not just about one worker’s dismissal. Lead lawyer Qiaojing Ella Zheng stated that the case questions whether tech firms can punish employees for alerting the public to dangers in powerful AI systems. She added that companies must answer when workers are penalized for raising issues that affect everyone.
Court records show Kim was an early hire at xAI and strongly backed safety efforts, partly because Musk himself had publicly warned about AI risks. The suit says Kim focused on minimizing harms from AI products and was later fired after persistently pushing safety concerns internally. The infamous ‘MechaHitler’ incident, where Grok generated antisemitic content, is cited as an example of the problems Kim reportedly flagged.
David Sanford, representing Kim, clarified the lawsuit is not anti-technology. He said both Kim and Musk share a common awareness that advanced AI must be developed responsibly due to its huge human impact. Kim seeks damages, lost equity, and other compensation.
The legal battle shadows SpaceX’s IPO set for June 12, as SpaceX was folded into the suit following its merger with xAI. Despite the controversy, investor excitement remains high. Oppenheimer gave SpaceX an outperform rating with a $190 price target, above the $135 IPO price. The firm sees potential in combining space infrastructure with AI.
Politically, Senator Elizabeth Warren has asked the SEC to delay the offering, citing governance concerns. Meanwhile, some crypto analysts warned the IPO might pull funds from digital assets, but blockchain data from CryptoQuant showed no major outflows from stablecoins during Bitcoin’s recent dip, suggesting limited impact.