Elon Musk Says xAI Will Reconsider Rejected Candidates, Admits Early Hiring Mistakes

Billionaire Elon Musk has announced that his AI company xAI will be reaching out to talented people who were previously rejected or not interviewed.

In an X post on Friday, Musk apologised and acknowledged that many talented people may have lost the opportunity to work at xAI. He also added that he and his team are reviewing past interview records to find promising candidates.

“Many talented people over the past few years were declined an offer or even an interview at xAI. My apologies. I and Baris Akis are going through the company interview history and reaching back out to promising candidates,” he posted.

Also Read: 'If It's R-Rated, It's Allowed': Musk Says Grok Imagine AI-Assistant Has Fewer Content-Moderation Restrictions

Many talented people over the past few years were declined an offer or even an interview @xAI. My apologies.@BarisAkis and I are going through the company interview history and reaching back out to promising candidates. https://t.co/tvhipa1lu1

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 13, 2026

Musk said his AI company xAI was “not built right the first time around.” Because of this, Musk explained that he is working to rebuild the company from the ground up. His move to review the interview history of the company is part of his broader vision.

In his earlier post, Musk said that the issues at xAI were similar to those he faced at Tesla. Musk became Tesla's CEO in 2008, five years after its founding in 2003, and has since overseen its growth into a major global automaker. 

Last month, Musk announced that SpaceX has acquired his AI startup xAI, launched in July 2023. In March 2025, he said that the futures of xAI and his online social media platform, X, are “intertwined” as he announced that xAI has acquired X in a $33 billion deal. The move boosted the AI firm's ability to train its Grok chatbot.

Notably, top Indian food delivery player Zomato's parent Eternal CEO Deepinder Goyal also announced a similar move last month. On X, Goyal revealed that his effort to reach out to former employees received an unexpectedly large response. In total, he heard back from around 8,000 people, including 4,000 former employees of Zomato.

Also Read: Elon Musk Says X Money To Enter Early Public Access Next Month, Pushing 'Everything App' Vision

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