Indian-origin AI researcher Devendra Singh Chaplot has joined Elon Musk's SpaceX and xAI as a senior hire. He will work closely with Musk to integrate AI with hardware and build "superintelligence," citing the unique combination of physical and digital intelligence at the companies.
Chaplot has a strong background in robotics, embodied AI, and large language models, having been part of the founding team at Mistral AI and worked at Thinking Machines Lab and Facebook AI Research.
His hiring occurs amid significant management changes and job cuts at xAI, as Musk restructures the company ahead of a potential large-scale IPO following a merger with SpaceX.
Main Topics: Devendra Singh Chaplot's new role at SpaceX/xAI; his professional background and expertise; the strategic integration of AI and hardware; ongoing restructuring and high-profile exits at xAI.
Indian-origin artificial intelligence (AI) researcher Devendra Singh Chaplot has joined Elon Muskâs SpaceX and xAI, one of the latest senior hires in the billionaire's expanding AI ambitions.
In a post on X, Chaplot said he will work closely with Musk and the teams at both companies âto build superintelligence,â as SpaceX and xAI move to integrate AI more tightly with hardware.
Chaplot wrote that SpaceX and xAI together âcombine physical and digital intelligence under a leader who understands hardware at the deepest level" and described the culture as âhigh-agencyâ with âfrontier-scale resources.â He said this combination creates the possibility to build âsomething truly unique" and added that he is âgrateful for everything that brought me here.â
Musk reposted his update and welcomed Chaplot to the team.
Before this appointment, Chaplot worked across academia, Big Tech, research, and AI startups, with a focus on robotics, embodied AI, and large language models (LLMs). He was part of the founding team at French tech company Mistral AI, contributing to models such as Mistral 7B and Mixtral, and was also at Thinking Machines Lab (TML), which works on large-scale training infrastructure and tools for foundation models.
An IIT Bombay graduate and Carnegie Mellon University PhD in machine learning, Chaplotâs research has focussed on reinforcement learning and navigation in complex environments. Earlier, at Facebook AI Research (FAIR), he worked on machine learning, computer vision, and robotics projects.
In his post, Chaplot said he is looking to continue work in areas he has âobsessed over for years,â including robotics research and building AI models, and noted that his time at Mistral and TML shaped how he thinks about âbuilding intelligence from the ground up.â
This comes as xAI sees high-profile exits. It was reported on Friday that Musk triggered a fresh wave of job cuts at xAI, with more cofounders pushed out amid his dissatisfaction with the underperformance of the startup's coding division.
Musk last month overhauled the management of xAI, ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO) that could ârank among â the largest â ever after merging the company with SpaceX.
In a post on X, Chaplot said he will work closely with Musk and the teams at both companies âto build superintelligence,â as SpaceX and xAI move to integrate AI more tightly with hardware.
Chaplot wrote that SpaceX and xAI together âcombine physical and digital intelligence under a leader who understands hardware at the deepest level" and described the culture as âhigh-agencyâ with âfrontier-scale resources.â He said this combination creates the possibility to build âsomething truly unique" and added that he is âgrateful for everything that brought me here.â
Musk reposted his update and welcomed Chaplot to the team.
Before this appointment, Chaplot worked across academia, Big Tech, research, and AI startups, with a focus on robotics, embodied AI, and large language models (LLMs). He was part of the founding team at French tech company Mistral AI, contributing to models such as Mistral 7B and Mixtral, and was also at Thinking Machines Lab (TML), which works on large-scale training infrastructure and tools for foundation models.
An IIT Bombay graduate and Carnegie Mellon University PhD in machine learning, Chaplotâs research has focussed on reinforcement learning and navigation in complex environments. Earlier, at Facebook AI Research (FAIR), he worked on machine learning, computer vision, and robotics projects.
In his post, Chaplot said he is looking to continue work in areas he has âobsessed over for years,â including robotics research and building AI models, and noted that his time at Mistral and TML shaped how he thinks about âbuilding intelligence from the ground up.â
This comes as xAI sees high-profile exits. It was reported on Friday that Musk triggered a fresh wave of job cuts at xAI, with more cofounders pushed out amid his dissatisfaction with the underperformance of the startup's coding division.
Musk last month overhauled the management of xAI, ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO) that could ârank among â the largest â ever after merging the company with SpaceX.
Meridiano
