Egor Babuskin, co-founder at Elon Musk’s Artificial Intelligence Startup XAI, has left the company to start his own venture to focus on AI security. Babuskin wrote on X, “Today was my last day,” it was written on X that his new firm, Babuskin Ventures, will fund research and startups working on Artificial Intelligence. Babuschkin, who previously worked in Google’s Deepmind and Openai, said he helped shape Xai from his early days. He recalled the “Early Scramble” to create infrastructure and AI models, given that he created many of the “basic equipment” used to launch and manage training jobs. He later looked at engineering in infrastructure, products and applied AI projects.

His exit is another high-profile departure for XAI, which was launched for the opponent in 2023, which he sees as the dominance of Big Tech in AI. Musk has often criticized industry leaders, accused him of excessive censorship and has not taken security concerns seriously.

The announcement follows the resignation of XAI’s legal chief, Robert Kail earlier this month. Linda Yacarino comes only a few weeks after the X CEO stepped as CEO, the social media platform Musk twisted in XA last year. Musk is also facing leadership changes in his electric vehicle company Tesla.

Musk reacted directly to Babuskin’s post, writing on X: “Best of Luck, Igor.” The brief message was seen by many of his followers as unusually cordumous, given the history of the muscles of sharp exchange with former colleagues.

Babuskin’s departure comes amidst terrible competition in the AI region. Openai, Google and Anthropic are rapidly expanding their capabilities, making heavy investments in advanced systems that can shape the future of technology. XAI is positioning itself as a challenger, promoting its chatbot Groke as a more open option for rivals such as chat.

While Babuskin has not disclosed detailed plans for Babuskin Ventures, his focus on AI security aligns with increasing push between researchers and regulators to ensure the powerful AI system that is developed responsibly.

For Musk, the change adds another challenge to maintain top talent in XAI, while pushing to compete with companies that have more deep resources. For Babuskin, it marks a change from the manufacture of AI products to funding projects, which is to make AI safe, a mission that can attract strong interest from investors and policy makers equally.