Elon Musk has shared an ambitious outlook for his artificial intelligence startup xAI, just weeks after the company reportedly carried out major layoffs.
In a post on X (Twitter), Musk said he expects xAI to catch up with leading AI developers such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic by the end of 2026.
Responding to a user who claimed rivals are currently leading the AI race while xAI and Meta Platforms lag behind by about seven months, Musk pushed back with characteristic confidence.
He commented that not only will xAI close the gap, but within three years it could move so far ahead that competitors would appear distant, joking that people might need the James Webb telescope to spot who comes second.
The remarks highlight Musk’s continued belief that xAI can quickly reshape the competitive AI landscape.
xAI layoffs
The announcement follows a major shake-up inside xAI. The company recently carried out sweeping layoffs and restructuring that led to the departure of most of its original leadership team.
Of the 11 co-founders who launched the startup, only two are still with the company. Elon Musk admitted that the company needed a reset, saying xAI “was not built right the first time” and is now being rebuilt from the ground up.
The changes also come amid intense competition in the AI sector. While xAI’s Grok models briefly outperformed tools from Google and OpenAI in some benchmarks last year, newer releases like Gemini 3.0 and 3.1 have since pulled ahead again.
At the same time, Anthropic’s Claude continues to be widely used by developers, particularly for coding tasks.
Musk to take hands on participation in xAI
To close the performance gap with peers, Elon Musk is reportedly taking a more hands-on role at xAI. According to reports, Musk has been personally reviewing rejected job applications with colleague Baris Akis to spot promising talent that may have been overlooked.
The aim is to strengthen the company’s capabilities in areas like AI coding tools, where xAI’s Grok still trails solutions such as Anthropic’s Claude Code and offerings from OpenAI.
The company has also made strategic changes, including an earlier merger with SpaceX to better handle the huge electricity and cooling demands needed for training advanced AI systems.
Despite criticism over Grok’s relatively open text and video generation features — which have raised concerns around deepfakes — Musk remains confident that xAI can eventually compete with leaders like Google and OpenAI.