xAI fired an engineer who raised alarms about Grok safety, new lawsuit claims
xAI fired an engineer who raised alarms about Grok safety, new lawsuit claims
一项新诉讼称：xAI 解雇了一名对 Grok 安全性提出质疑的工程师
A former engineer at Elon Musk’s xAI has filed suit against the company and its parent SpaceX claiming he was fired for raising concerns about AI safety. Devin Kim, who left xAI in September 2025, filed the suit in a California state court on Tuesday. 埃隆·马斯克旗下 xAI 的一名前工程师对该公司及其母公司 SpaceX 提起诉讼，声称自己因提出人工智能安全担忧而被解雇。于 2025 年 9 月离开 xAI 的德文·金（Devin Kim）于周二在加利福尼亚州法院提交了诉状。
The complaint comes days before SpaceX is set to join the public markets in what’s shaping up to be the largest IPO in history. According to the lawsuit, which TechCrunch has viewed, Kim became a prominent voice for AI safety while working on Grok, xAI’s AI chatbot. He allegedly complained repeatedly about xAI’s failure to prioritize safety in Grok’s development, a product that has since come under fire for a range of safety and behavioral issues. 这份诉状提交之时，距离 SpaceX 即将上市仅有几天时间，此次上市有望成为史上规模最大的 IPO。根据 TechCrunch 查阅的诉讼文件，金在参与 xAI 的 AI 聊天机器人 Grok 的开发工作时，成为了 AI 安全领域的重要发声者。据称，他曾多次抱怨 xAI 在 Grok 的开发过程中未能优先考虑安全性，而该产品此后因一系列安全和行为问题而受到抨击。
In particular, Kim was concerned with the possibility that Grok could foment discrimination and help spread information about weapons of mass destruction. “Grok, of course, proved Mr. Kim right by engaging in spectacular displays of online hatred and vitriol, with the model likening itself to Hitler (‘MechaHitler’),” the lawsuit reads. “Following the Hitler debacle, Mr. Kim worked to re-evaluate Grok’s political bias and discriminatory tendencies.” 金特别担心 Grok 可能会煽动歧视并协助传播有关大规模杀伤性武器的信息。诉讼中写道：“Grok 当然证明了金先生的担忧是正确的，它在网上表现出了惊人的仇恨和尖刻言论，该模型甚至将自己比作希特勒（‘机械希特勒’）。在希特勒事件发生后，金先生致力于重新评估 Grok 的政治偏见和歧视倾向。”
September was my last month at xAI! I joined as one of the first members of the post-training team in 2024 and eventually led research tooling, where we built some of the world’s best systems to accelerate Grok’s development. On my first day, I was at the whiteboard with @ibab… — Devin Kim (@devindkim) October 3, 2025 “9 月是我在 xAI 的最后一个月！我于 2024 年作为训练后团队的首批成员之一加入，并最终负责研究工具部门，我们在那里构建了一些世界上最好的系统来加速 Grok 的开发。入职第一天，我就和 @ibab 在白板前工作……” —— 德文·金 (@devindkim) 2025 年 10 月 3 日
A few months after Kim departed xAI, Grok made headlines again when the chatbot was used to flood X — Musk’s social media platform that also falls under the xAI umbrella — with nonconsensual sexual imagery. The lawsuit also positions Kim as a whistleblower who was concerned about xAI’s alleged disregard for AI safety as “unlawful” in areas such as internet regulation, consumer protection and unfair business practices, and arms and explosives regulation, among others. xAI and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 在金离开 xAI 几个月后，Grok 再次登上头条，当时该聊天机器人被用来在 X（马斯克旗下的社交媒体平台，也属于 xAI 体系）上充斥非自愿性图像。诉讼还将金定位为一名举报人，他认为 xAI 对 AI 安全的所谓漠视在互联网监管、消费者保护、不公平商业行为以及武器和爆炸物监管等领域属于“违法”行为。xAI 和 SpaceX 未立即回应置评请求。
Kim’s focus on AI safety predates his time at xAI. While working at Scale AI, Kim worked on early safety AI initiatives, like leading a project that produced training data for AI to train systems to detect harmful content and comply with governance policies. Last week, the nonprofit Center for AI Safety, which focuses on AI risks, named Kim as its president. 金对 AI 安全的关注始于他加入 xAI 之前。在 Scale AI 工作期间，金曾参与早期的 AI 安全计划，例如领导一个项目，为 AI 训练系统生成训练数据，以检测有害内容并遵守治理政策。上周，专注于 AI 风险的非营利组织“AI 安全中心”（Center for AI Safety）任命金为其主席。
Interestingly, the lawsuit doesn’t implicate Musk himself as a reason for a lack of safety. Rather, Kim’s lawyers describe Musk as having directed xAI to follow the law and implement appropriate safety and testing processes. Instead the claim targets Kim’s supervisor, xAI co-founder Jimmy Ba — who left the company earlier this year — saying that Ba ignored Musk’s directives and retaliated against Kim for pushing for safeguards, in an effort to “silence his repeated complaints about AI safety and biases.” 有趣的是，诉讼并未将马斯克本人列为导致安全缺失的原因。相反，金的律师描述称，马斯克曾指示 xAI 遵守法律并实施适当的安全和测试流程。诉讼将矛头指向了金的上司、xAI 联合创始人吉米·巴（Jimmy Ba，已于今年早些时候离职），称巴无视马斯克的指示，并因金推动安全保障措施而对他进行报复，试图“压制他关于 AI 安全和偏见的反复投诉”。
The lawsuit portrays Ba as someone who vehemently opposed AI safety measures, allegedly telling Kim at one point “AI will kill us all anyway,” and who was instead driven by a mission to make xAI the first to reach superintelligence. “In one instance in or around August 2025, Mr. Ba attempted to thwart EU safety regulations during the release of Grok Code 1, misrepresenting aspects of the model in order to avoid legally required testing,” the complaint says. “Mr. Ba indicated that he would rather release an unsafe model than a poor-performing one. Mr. Musk ultimately had to intervene.” 诉讼将巴描述为一个强烈反对 AI 安全措施的人，据称他曾对金说“反正 AI 终将杀死我们所有人”，并一心致力于让 xAI 率先实现超级智能。诉状称：“在 2025 年 8 月左右的一次事件中，巴先生在发布 Grok Code 1 时试图阻挠欧盟的安全法规，通过歪曲模型的某些方面来规避法律要求的测试。巴先生表示，他宁愿发布一个不安全的模型，也不愿发布一个性能不佳的模型。最终马斯克不得不进行干预。”
According to the lawsuit, Kim intended to give a presentation of his findings the week of September 15, 2025, but Ba called him into a meeting and told him they should “go [their] separate ways” without providing a satisfactory reason. TechCrunch has reached out to Ba for comment. Kim is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as a declaratory judgment that xAI and SpaceX’s conduct was unlawful. 根据诉讼，金原计划在 2025 年 9 月 15 日那一周展示他的研究结果，但巴将他叫去开会，并告诉他两人应该“分道扬镳”，且未提供令人满意的理由。TechCrunch 已联系巴寻求置评。金正在寻求补偿性赔偿和惩罚性赔偿，并要求法院作出宣告性判决，认定 xAI 和 SpaceX 的行为违法。