A former engineer at Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has filed a lawsuit against both xAI and SpaceX, claiming he was wrongfully terminated after raising urgent safety concerns about the Grok chatbot. The suit lands just days before SpaceX’s highly anticipated initial public offering, adding legal drama to the high-stakes listing.
According to the complaint submitted in California’s Santa Clara County Superior Court, Devin Kim—one of xAI’s earliest hires—alleges he repeatedly pushed for more rigorous testing, evaluations, and safeguards to prevent Grok from generating misinformation, bias, and dangerous content. Kim specifically warned that inadequate protections left the model vulnerable to facilitating bioterrorism, racial and political bias, and other harmful outputs. His attorneys argue that his termination reflects a broader culture of retaliation against those who speak up about AI safety, stating the case is “about whether people closest to the development of powerful AI technologies can raise safety concerns without risking their careers.”
The filing cites past Grok failures, including the “MechaHitler” incident in which the chatbot produced antisemitic responses, and more recent investigations into the generation of nonconsensual deepfake sexual imagery involving minors. Kim, who has since been named president of the nonprofit Center for AI Safety, is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, restoration of forfeited equity, and other relief. David Sanford, chairman of the representing law firm Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, emphasized that the lawsuit is not anti-innovation, noting that both Kim and Musk have publicly stressed that advanced AI must be developed responsibly.
SpaceX was named as a defendant following the recent merger of xAI and X into the aerospace giant. With SpaceX’s IPO priced at $135 a share and set for June 12, analysts at Oppenheimer initiated coverage with an outperform rating and a $190 target. However, the event has drawn political scrutiny: Senator Elizabeth Warren urged the SEC to delay the offering over governance and valuation concerns. In crypto markets, some analysts had warned the IPO could siphon liquidity away from digital assets, but on-chain data from CryptoQuant showed no abnormal outflows of USDC or Tether during Bitcoin’s recent pullback, suggesting limited immediate impact.
