xAI lays off 500 on data annotation team (about a third of 1,500)
Laid off 500 people from its data annotation team (about a third of the 1,500 in total). Announced it would instead expand specialist AI tutors 10-fold
Why it matters
Data strategy shifts from generalist human labeling to labeling by experts in STEM, finance, medicine and safety
Source — Primary sources first; secondary reports are labelled “Press”
Presstechcrunch.comhttps://techcrunch.com/2025/09/13/xai-reportedly-lays-off-500-workers-from-data-annotation-teamAdded in Week 35, 2026 · See that week