A copy of xAI’s internal organizational chart was reviewed by Business Insider, featuring Elon Musk’s direct reports including Igor Babuschkin, Ross Nordeen, Jimmy Ba, Jared Birchall, and Daniel Rowland. The company has seen significant growth, expanding its workforce by over 1,000 employees in less than two years to compete with OpenAI and Google. The chart reveals key individuals near the top of xAI’s AI venture, such as former Tesla and Google engineers, Musk’s son, and his home office manager. Musk, as CEO, leads a team of more than 1,200 employees, with five individuals reporting directly to him. These include xAI founding team members, Musk’s aide, and Rowland, whose role in the company was previously undisclosed.
Despite requests for comment, a spokesperson for xAI and Musk’s direct reports did not respond. Key insights into Musk’s direct reports include Jimmy Ba, a prominent early hire at xAI who is also an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. Ba oversees a large team of AI “tutors” responsible for training the company’s chatbot, Grok. Daniel Rowland, who joined xAI about a year ago, manages the company’s data centers, including the massive Memphis facility dubbed “Colossus.” Rowland leads a team that has rapidly developed multiple data centers, including one in Atlanta, housing thousands of GPUs.
Overall, the internal organizational chart sheds light on the key players and structure within xAI, showcasing the company’s rapid growth and competitive positioning in the AI industry.
Rowland is actively involved in engaging with local officials and overseeing site builds and infrastructure as the senior manager. His team in Memphis includes employees like Alexander Coppess, Andy Kim, Lee Meyer, and Liz Balke, with one data center technician based in Atlanta. Details about Rowland’s professional background could not be confirmed. Meanwhile, a hardware engineer named Daniel Rowland has been working on Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer since 2018, according to LinkedIn and internal documents reviewed by BI. Tesla did not provide a comment upon request for clarification.
Babuschkin, who previously worked at Google DeepMind, manages a team of 29 individuals directly at xAI, including Kai Musk, who is listed as an “Engineering Intern” in the company’s directory. Musk’s involvement with xAI has not been previously disclosed. When asked about his position, Musk denied the information provided and did not offer further comments. Babuschkin also supervises members of the “xAI Partner” department, including individuals like Marko Elez and Aram Moghaddassi, who have connections to Musk’s previous ventures.
Birchall, listed as an “xAI Partner,” oversees finance, legal, security, and HR teams, with direct reports like Robert Ochoa, Robert Keele, and Pablo Mendoza. Similar to Rowland, Birchall is a remote employee and also serves as the CEO of Neuralink, a brain chip startup owned by Musk.
Nordeen, a former Tesla technical program manager, has no direct reports at xAI. For further inquiries, contact the reporter using a non-work email at gkay@businessinsider.com or via the encrypted messaging platform Signal at 248-894-6012.
