Elon Musk’s empire is losing senior talent, with veterans and new hires bailing over punishing hours, sudden pivots, and his MAGA-flavored politics, amid an ongoing war with OpenAI’s Sam Altman.

The pace reflects Musk’s all-consuming race to catch rivals in AI after ChatGPT upended Silicon Valley’s pecking order, insiders told the Financial Times.

Several current and former staff said the rivalry with Altman has intensified the grind, as Musk presses teams to out-ship and out-hype the competition across products he controls.

“Elon’s got a chip on his shoulder from ChatGPT and is spending every waking moment trying to put Sam out of business,” said one recent top departee.

Last week, xAI accused Altman’s company of “plundering and misappropriating” its code and data center secrets by s

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