By TOI TECH DESK
Copyright indiatimes
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has placed a college student on leave from the University of Pennsylvania in charge of its crucial data annotation team following sweeping layoffs that eliminated over 500 positions. Diego Pasini, who graduated high school in 2023 and joined xAI just eight months ago, now leads the team responsible for training the company’s Grok AI chatbot.The dramatic personnel changes came after at least nine high-level employees had their Slack accounts deactivated last week, according to Business Insider reporting. The data annotation team, previously numbering around 1,500 workers, has been reduced to approximately 900 following the cuts that occurred in multiple waves throughout September.College student is now running key AI training operations at xAIPasini assumed leadership of the team in early September and led an all-hands meeting on September 15, assuring remaining staff there would be no further layoffs. However, more than 100 additional employees were terminated shortly after, current workers told Business Insider. The 20-year-old has since conducted rapid-fire one-on-one meetings requiring employees to justify their roles at the company.Under Pasini’s leadership, the team has implemented new performance evaluation protocols and shifted focus toward specific testing requirements that determine employee retention. Before the layoffs began, he posted announcements in company Slack channels directing workers to concentrate on critical assessments that would influence their future positions at xAI, according to Business Insider’s previous reporting. The University of Pennsylvania student, whose LinkedIn profile shows he’s “on leave” from studying computer science and economics, joined xAI after winning a company hackathon in San Francisco. His previous experience includes a fellowship at investment firm Contrary and attendance at the prestigious Pingry School in New Jersey, which charges over $47,000 annual tuition.Grok training team faces continued cuts despite leadership promisesThe data annotation team plays a vital role in xAI’s operations, with contract and full-time staff labeling and categorizing raw data to improve Grok’s understanding capabilities. Pasini’s appointment represents a stark contrast to his predecessor, who had managed Tesla’s Autopilot data annotation team for over a decade before joining xAI.Musk began following Pasini on X in early September, shortly after the student posted supportive comments about the billionaire’s companies. Two employees who questioned Pasini’s credentials on internal Slack channels had their accounts deactivated within hours, screenshots obtained by Business Insider show. The company has not responded to requests for comment about the leadership changes or ongoing workforce reductions.
