[xAI Under Musk Lays Off 500 Data Labeling Team Employees] According to reports from Zhitong Finance, Elon Musk's AI startup xAI laid off 500 team members on Friday evening. An internal email announced that the company would immediately undergo a "strategic shift," deciding to "accelerate the expansion of the professional AI trainer team and prioritize it, while reducing focus on general AI trainer positions." In the email, xAI stated: "As part of this refocusing effort, we no longer require the majority of general AI trainer positions. Your employment with xAI will be terminated effective immediately." Business Insider noted that the layoffs account for approximately one-third of xAI's 1,500-member data labeling team. This team was primarily responsible for labeling and preprocessing data used to train xAI's chatbot, Grok.