xAI reportedly lays off ~500 data annotators; shifts to ‘Specialist AI tutors’

Reports say xAI laid off at least 500 workers from its data annotation team — its largest group — with employees told by email on the evening of Sept. 12. Those affected were reportedly informed they would continue to be paid through the end of their contracts on Nov. 30, but that their access to xAI systems was cut off after the notice.

The annotation team provided labels, context and other raw-data curation used to train Grok. xAI has said it will “immediately surge [its] Specialist AI tutor team by 10x” and is hiring across STEM fields. The company describes specialist tutors as providing higher-quality inputs, labels and annotations using specialized software, including text, audio and video data.

Background: The layoffs follow other high-profile exits at xAI, including CFO Mike Liberatore. xAI launched Grok 4 in July and has promoted the model as extremely capable; company leadership has made ambitious claims about its performance on exams and future inventions.

Sources: Engadget report (original link provided): https://www.engadget.com/ai/xai-reportedly-laid-off-at-least-500-ai-tutors-working-on-grok-130059624.html — additional reporting referenced Reuters and Business Insider.

Discussion: What are the implications for AI development quality, worker rights, and the future of large-model training? Share your perspective below.