San francisco: Igor Babuschkin, a co-founder of Elon Musk's xAI firm, announced on Thursday that he has departed from the company to launch his own AI safety investment firm. "Today was my last day at xAI, the company that I helped start with Elon Musk in 2023," Babuschkin shared on the US social media platform X, which is also owned by Musk.

According to Anadolu Agency, Babuschkin expressed his long-standing aspiration to build AI that advances humanity. He shared memories of his initial meeting with Musk, where they discussed the potential future of AI and the need for a company with a unique mission. Motivated by this vision, Babuschkin is now embarking on a new journey with Babuschkin Ventures, aiming to fund AI safety research and invest in companies developing AI systems that benefit humanity and explore the universe's mysteries.

Babuschkin, with his previous experience as part of OpenAI's technical staff and as a research engineer for Google's DeepMind, highlighted some of the significant achievements at xAI during his tenure, including the expansion of the company's engineering teams. His departure follows the resignation of Robert Keele, xAI's legal chief, earlier this month, and Linda Yaccarino, the former CEO of Musk's X, who left last month after the platform's integration with xAI.

These departures come in the wake of controversies surrounding xAI's Grok chatbot, which faced criticism for its use of profanity and offensive language, igniting a global debate on the ethical limits of AI behavior.