Xai law chief steps after a whirlwind year

Robert Keel said this week that he resigned as Xai’s legal director more than a year later, saying he wanted to spend more time with his children. In his announcement, Kiel acknowledged “Sunlight Between Our Worldview” with boss Elon Musk who has not commented on Kiel’s exit.

“I love two toddlers and can’t see enough,” Kiel wrote, posting the news on both X and LinkedIn. He called his time at an AI startup “incredible,” saying, “a lifelong adventure,” and “you can’t ride two horses at once.”

Keele’s news prompted a pouring of support on social media from Xai’s colleagues and parents. When he joined Xai in May 2024 as his first legal director, he had just launched his own very short-lived fractional method outfit. “Kiel’s law was a good run (~3 weeks!), but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to run legally on Xai,” he writes, calling himself “surprisingly, insanely fortunate.”

Xai arrived when Xai announced a massive $6 billion Series B funding round in May 2024, valuing $24 billion, supported by heavy hitters like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. Soon after that, Xai began to grow rapidly, acquiring Musk’s social media company X in March this year, when Musk valued XAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion.

Before his entrepreneur’s stint, Kiel was legal director of the autonomous aircraft manufacturer Elroy Air and the general counsel of Airbus’ Silicon Valley Innovation Center.

Before becoming a lawyer, Lily Lim was a NASA rocket scientist and worked on spacecraft navigation for a project that mapped the Venus surface. She joined Xai in late 2024 as a privacy and IP specialist after legal duties at many companies and businesses such as ServiceNow.

Kiel’s departure fits the pattern of ongoing executive sales across the Musk empire. X CEO Linda Jaccarino left last month, and Tesla recently lost several top executives. Masks, which have many long-time eu-ones, openly expect employees to work long hours, even if it means they sleep in the office, as happened when they got their previous Twitter.

It appears that some new companies have adopted similar mentalities to preempt their rivals, such as the perception of AI coding startups that are actively trying to reduce their teams. In fact, the CEO recently told employees via email that he doesn’t believe in work-life balance.