⛔ Half of xAI Founders Have Now Quit

Plus, Google Gave Student Data to ICE

February 11, 2026

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Welcome back, AI Admirers!

Breaking News: Nine key workers just quit Elon Musk's AI company xAI — all in one week. Two of them actually helped start the company. In total, more than half of the founders have now left. People are now asking: Is xAI in trouble?

Get ready to dive into the latest happenings in AI.

📢 Today's Headline:

  • xAI Loses Half Its Founders in Crisis!

  • Musk Plans Moon Factory for AI Satellites!

  • Google Handed Over Private Info to ICE!

  • Amazon Brings Meds to Your Door Same Day!

  • Latest AI Tools & Resources!

  • Today’s Poll and Results!

Read time: 3.5 minutes!

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Hand-picked News

Nine key people left xAI last week, including two founders and they're being really honest about why.

Here's what happened:

  • More than half the founders are gone. Six out of the 12 people who started xAI have now left. That's a huge red flag.

  • They're starting their own AI companies. At least three people who quit are teaming up to build something new. They say they want "smaller teams" and "more freedom." Basically: they don't want to work for Elon anymore.

  • The timing looks really bad. This happened right as xAI got in trouble for its Grok AI making illegal explicit images. Plus, new emails show Musk talked about visiting Jeffrey Epstein's private island. Not a good look.

xAI still has over 1,000 workers, so it's not shutting down. But here's why this matters: when the people who built the core technology leave, it's really hard to replace them. These weren't random employees — they created the main systems that make Grok work.

⚠️ What to watch: xAI wants to sell stock to the public this year. If more important people leave before that happens, investors will get nervous and ask tough questions.

👀 The real story: When someone quits and says "all AI companies are doing the same boring thing," that's not just a normal goodbye. That means they lost faith in what xAI is building.

While nine founders leave xAI, Elon just announced his wildest plan yet: build a factory on the moon that shoots satellites into space with a giant catapult.

Here's the actual story:

  • The plan sounds like sci-fi. Build a factory on the moon. Make AI satellites there. Then use a huge electromagnetic launcher (like a space catapult) to shoot them into orbit at 3,800 mph. These satellites would run AI computers powered by unlimited solar energy in space.

  • Mars is out, moon is in. For 24 years, Elon said Mars was the goal. Now he's suddenly switching to the moon, saying it'll only take 10 years. (Keep in mind, he promised cargo ships to Mars by 2022, and that never happened.)

  • The timing looks sketchy. He announced this moon plan one day after two more co-founders quit xAI. That's now six of the original 12 founders gone. One person who left said: "All AI companies are doing the same boring thing." That's a brutal exit line.

Some people think this actually makes sense: Tesla gives Elon data about roads and energy. Neuralink gives brain data. SpaceX gives space physics data. Add moon factories and you get something no other AI company has.

⚠️ The problem: People who invested millions in xAI want better AI right now, not moon bases in 10+ years. ChatGPT, Claude, and Google are all racing ahead today. The competition is happening now, not in the future.

👀 What to watch: If SpaceX goes public this summer and raises huge money, the moon plan gets real. But if more key people quit first, this whole thing could fall apart.

Bottom line: Is Elon making big announcements to distract from problems at xAI, or is he actually building something amazing that we just can't see yet? With Elon, it's honestly hard to tell.

Google just gave ICE a student's credit card numbers, home address, and account history — without a judge's permission.

Here's what happened:

  • ICE used a loophole. "Administrative subpoenas" don't need judges. Google could legally refuse these—but didn't.

  • They gave everything. Credit card numbers, bank accounts, home addresses, IP addresses, phone numbers. All because the student attended a pro-Palestinian protest.

  • It's a pattern. ICE is using these requests against Trump critics and protest accounts. Privacy groups are begging tech companies to stop complying.

Here's the scary part: tech companies don't have to give your data when they get these requests. They can refuse. They can fight it. They can tell you so you can defend yourself. Most just hand it over anyway.

⚠️ Why this matters: If you ever posted anything critical about the government, went to a protest, or run an account tracking ICE, your emails, locations, payment info, and contacts could be given to federal agencies. No judge. No warning. Just because they asked.

🔒 What you can do: Use apps that actually protect you. Signal and ProtonMail have histories of saying no to these requests. Google, Facebook, and Instagram clearly don't care about protecting your privacy.

👀 Bottom line: If tech companies keep handing over data without fighting back, being politically active becomes the same as being watched by the government. Your data is only protected if your tech company decides to protect it that day.

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🚨 Quick Poll

Today’s Poll:

Does losing half of a startup’s founding team worry you about its future success?

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