xAI accused of firing engineer over Grok safety concerns, lawsuit claims
A former engineer at xAI has filed a lawsuit against the company and its parent company, SpaceX, alleging that he was dismissed after raising concerns about artificial intelligence safety issues related to Grok, the company's chatbot.
Devin Kim, who left xAI in September 2025, filed the complaint in a California state court. The lawsuit was submitted just days before SpaceX is expected to enter the public markets in what could become the largest initial public offering in history, News.Az reports, citing TechCrunch.
Kim became a prominent advocate for AI safety while working on Grok and repeatedly expressed concerns about what he described as the company's failure to prioritize safety during the chatbot's development. According to the lawsuit, he warned about the potential for the system to encourage discrimination and assist in the spread of information related to weapons of mass destruction.
The complaint states that Kim later worked on evaluating Grok's political bias and discriminatory tendencies following a series of controversies involving the chatbot. The lawsuit also describes him as a whistleblower who believed xAI's approach to AI safety could violate regulations related to consumer protection, internet governance and arms and explosives controls.
According to the filing, Kim's concerns about AI safety predated his work at xAI. Before joining the company, he worked on safety-focused initiatives at Scale AI. Last week, the Center for AI Safety appointed him as its president.
The lawsuit does not accuse Elon Musk of contributing to the alleged safety shortcomings. Instead, Kim's legal team claims that Musk instructed xAI to comply with laws and implement appropriate safety and testing procedures. The complaint targets xAI co-founder Jimmy Ba, alleging that he ignored those directives and retaliated against Kim for repeatedly raising concerns about safety and bias.
The lawsuit further claims that Ba opposed certain safety measures and prioritized the goal of achieving superintelligence. It also alleges that Ba attempted to avoid European Union safety requirements during the release of Grok Code 1 and preferred releasing an unsafe model rather than a weaker-performing one. According to the complaint, Musk ultimately intervened.
Kim alleges that he planned to present his findings in September 2025 but was instead called into a meeting and informed that he and the company should part ways. He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as a declaration that the actions of xAI and SpaceX were unlawful.
By Leyla Şirinova
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