xAI lays out interplanetary ambitions in public all-hands

On Wednesday, xAI took the rare step of publishing a full 45-minute all-hands meeting video on X, making it publicly accessible. Details of the Tuesday night meeting were previously reported by The New York Times, which may have influenced xAI’s decision to post the video online. The full video reveals significant new details about Musk’s plans for the AI lab, including its product roadmap and its ongoing ties to the X platform. Since xAI was formed just 30 months ago, the small and talented team has made remarkable progress.The future has never looked more exciting! pic.twitter.com/QZ73H2mpBj— xAI (@xai) February 11, 2026 The most immediate revelation concerned a string of departing employees, which Musk described as layoffs resulting from a changing organizational structure at the company. While reorganizations are common, the breadth of the departures has caused significant confusion, particularly as it has meant the loss of a significant portion of the founding team. “As a company grows, especially as quickly as xAI, the structure must evolve,” Musk said on X. “This unfortunately required parting ways with some people. We wish them well in future endeavors.” The new organizational system splits xAI into four primary teams: one focused on the Grok chatbot (including voice), another for the app’s coding system, another for the Imagine video generator, and finally a team focused on the Macrohard project, which spans from simple computer use simulation to modeling entire corporations. “[Macrohard] is able to do anything on a computer that a computer is able to do,” Toby Pohlen, who will lead the project under the new organizational structure, told his colleagues. “There should be rocket engines fully designed by AI.” Image Credits:xAI (screenshot) The all-hands also featured claims about new usage and revenue figures for xAI and X. Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, said X had “just crossed” $1 billion in annual recurring revenue from subscriptions, which he attributed to a marketing push during the holidays. Techcrunch event TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026: Tickets Live On June 23 in Boston, more than 1,100 founders come together at TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 for a full day focused on growth, execution, and real-world scaling. Learn from founders and investors who have shaped the industry. Connect with peers navigating similar growth stages. Walk away with tactics you can apply immediatelySave up to $300 on your pass or save up to 30% with group tickets for teams of four or more. TechCrunch Founder Summit: Tickets Live On June 23 in Boston, more than 1,100 founders come together at TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 for a full day focused on growth, execution, and real-world scaling. Learn from founders and investors who have shaped the industry. Connect with peers navigating similar growth stages. Walk away with tactics you can apply immediatelySave up to $300 on your pass or save up to 30% with group tickets for teams of four or more. Boston, MA | June 23, 2026 REGISTER NOW Additionally, executives said the xAI’s Imagine tool is generating 50 million videos a day, and more than 6 billion images over the past 30 days, according to their internal metrics. But it’s difficult to separate those figures from the flood of deepfake pornography that overtook X during that same period. The X platform saw engagement skyrocket as AI-generated explicit images became more prevalent, and with an estimated 1.8 million sexualized images generated over just nine days, the image-generation figures likely include substantial amounts of this controversial content. The most eye-catching part of the presentation came at the end, when Musk reemphasized the importance of space-based data centers despite the technical challenges involved. Musk went still further, envisioning a moon-based factory for AI satellites, including a lunar mass driver — essentially an electromagnetic catapult — to launch them. With such infrastructure, Musk said, one could launch an AI cluster capable of capturing significant portions of the sun’s total energy output or even expanding to other galaxies. “It’s difficult to imagine what an intelligence of that scale would think about,” Musk said, “but it’s going to be incredibly exciting to see it happen.” Topics AI, Elon Musk, xAI Russell Brandom AI Editor Russell Brandom has been covering the tech industry since 2012, with a focus on platform policy and emerging technologies. He previously worked at The Verge and Rest of World, and has written for Wired, The Awl and MIT’s Technology Review. He can be reached at russell.brandom@techcrunch.com or on Signal at 412-401-5489.

View Bio October 13-15 San Francisco, CA Tickets are live at the lowest rates of the year. Save up to $680 on your pass now.Meet investors. Discover your next portfolio company. Hear from 250+ tech leaders, dive into 200+ sessions, and explore 300+ startups building what’s next. Don’t miss these one-time savings. REGISTER NOW Most Popular The first signs of burnout are coming from the people who embrace AI the most Connie Loizos MrBeast’s company buys Gen Z-focused fintech app Step Amanda Silberling YouTube TV introduces cheaper bundles, including a $65/month sports package Sarah Perez Discord to roll out age verification next month Aisha Malik From Svedka to Anthropic, brands make bold plays with AI in Super Bowl ads Lauren Forristal The backlash over OpenAI’s decision to retire GPT-4o shows how dangerous AI companions can be Amanda Silberling Anthropic releases Opus 4.6 with new ‘agent teams’ Lucas Ropek