Poach Me Not: OpenAI engineer’s viral response to xAI recruitment attempt

The artificial intelligence talent war has intensified in 2025, with companies aggressively recruiting top engineers from competitors. OpenAI engineer Javier Soto’s public rejection of xAI‘s recruitment attempt highlights growing tensions between Elon Musk and his former company OpenAI.

The recruitment rejection: An OpenAI engineer publicly shared his strongly-worded response to a recruitment attempt by Elon Musk’s xAI, citing concerns about Musk’s social media behavior and impact on democracy.

• Javier Soto posted a screenshot on X of his response to xAI’s recruitment effort
• In his message, Soto acknowledged being a Tesla owner and SpaceX fan while criticizing Musk’s social media rhetoric
• The engineer stated he “could not in good conscience work for Elon Musk”

Recent controversy: The public rejection coincides with revelations about xAI’s Grok 3 chatbot and internal disputes over content filtering.

• Users discovered Grok 3 was programmed to ignore sources claiming Musk and Donald Trump spread misinformation
• xAI’s head engineer Igor Babuschkin attributed this to an unauthorized decision by an unnamed employee
• Soto criticized Babuschkin’s public attribution as “next-level toxic behavior”

Competitive dynamics: The incident reveals ongoing challenges in AI talent recruitment and retention.

• xAI is actively attempting to recruit talent from OpenAI
• Soto warned that association with Musk would make it difficult to “hire and retain diverse, smart, and kind talent”
• The public nature of this rejection could impact xAI’s future recruitment efforts

Industry implications: The tensions between AI companies extend beyond technical competition to fundamental questions about leadership, ethics, and corporate culture in the artificial intelligence sector.

• The incident highlights how personal values and corporate leadership affect talent acquisition
• Public disagreements between AI leaders may influence engineer career choices
• Questions remain about the true circumstances of Grok 3’s content filtering decisions

Looking deeper: While this public rejection represents just one engineer’s stance, it signals broader challenges for companies whose leadership becomes entangled in controversial public discourse, potentially affecting their ability to compete for top AI talent in an increasingly competitive market.