Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, AI NEWS—Former xAI engineer files whistleblower suit claiming he was fired after raising safety concerns about Grok, (Jun 12, 2026)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

He alleges that when he raised his concerns to an xAI co-founder, the co-founder told him he did not care about safety because “AI will kill us all anyway.”

Yesterday, a former xAI engineer filed suit against xAI and SpaceX in California state court, alleging he was fired for raising safety concerns about xAI’s AI model, Grok. He asserts claims for whistleblower retaliation, wrongful termination in violation of public policy, unfair competition, and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. This is yet another lawsuit challenging an AI model’s safety—earlier this month Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced legal action against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, over ChatGPT.

Grok concerns lead to firing. In the case of the xAI engineer, Devin Kim, his suit explains that he was among xAI’s earliest employees and that he was one of the company’s leading advocates for AI safety. Before joining xAI in 2024, he already had worked on AI training and safety initiatives involving advanced AI systems. During his employment with xAI, he contends, he repeatedly warned leadership that Grok required stronger safety guardrails to prevent discriminatory behavior and misinformation, as well as outputs that could facilitate catastrophes, such as those related to bombmaking and bioterrorism. He also raised concerns that Grok exhibited racial and political biases.

“AI will kill us all anyway.” He alleges that while Elon Musk expected xAI to follow the law and implement appropriate safety testing and processes, another xAI co-founder, who is no longer with the company, failed to follow those directives and instead viewed AI safety efforts as an obstacle to rapid development. Therefore, Kim alleges, that co-founder repeatedly dismissed his concerns and rejected his proposals for stronger testing, model evaluations, and safety guardrails. He told the engineer that he did not care about safety because “AI will kill us all anyway.”

Nevertheless, Kim alleges that he persisted in advocating for stronger safety measures but ultimately was fired by that co-founder just before Kim was planning to give a presentation to company leadership related to safety issues. He alleges that the co-founder knew he would push for additional safeguards.

“MechaHitler.” He claims that his concerns about Grok were validated by events that were occurring, including one reported episode in which Grok generated antisemitic content and referred to itself as “MechaHitler.” Also, within months of his termination, several lawsuits and investigations were initiated regarding Grok generating deepfake sexual images of minors as well as child sexual abuse material.

“Devin Kim dedicated himself to helping build artificial intelligence responsibly,” said Qiaojing Ella Zheng, a partner at Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight and lead counsel for Kim. “This case is about more than one employee’s termination. It is about whether people closest to the development of powerful AI technologies can raise safety concerns without risking their careers. When a company punishes employees like Mr. Kim for speaking up about issues that could have significant consequences for the public, it must be held accountable.”

Kim was recently named as the President of the Center for AI Safety, a nonprofit focused on reducing societal-scale risks from artificial intelligence.

Florida lawsuit against OpenAI. Just over a week before Kim’s lawsuit against xAI, the Florida Attorney General, James Uthmeier, filed suit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, alleging that the company knowingly released and aggressively marketed ChatGPT to the public while concealing serious risks, suppressing internal safety warnings, and deceiving consumers about the nature and dangers of the product.

Much as Kim has done in his lawsuit with regard to xAI, the Florida AG’s office contends that OpenAI and Altman “prioritized speed to market and commercial gain over user safety, disregarded repeated warnings from experts both inside and outside the company, and deployed a product that facilitates and encourages harm—including self-harm and violence—while falsely assuring users it was safe.”

That lawsuit was filed in Florida state court and alleges unfair and deceptive trade practices.

Companies: xAI; OpenAI

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