Uday Ruddarraju, who was the head of infrastructure engineering at Elon Musk’s AI company xAI, has officially resigned from his position. Ruddarraju spent just over a year at xAI, but his impact was huge. He was a driving force behind the creation of “Colossus,” a giant supercomputer powered by more than 200,000 GPUs. He also played a key role in training Grok 3, one of xAI’s newest and most advanced AI models.
On July 8, Uday Ruddarraju used X (formerly Twitter) to share the news of his exit. In his heartfelt post, he reflected on his time at xAI and expressed deep gratitude for the experience. He wrote, “Jensen Huang was right — Elon and his teams are truly one of a kind. I’m thankful I got to be a small part of something that’s shaping the future of AI computing.”
He also looked back at the challenges and successes during his time at xAI. When he first joined, Ruddarraju thought the goal of deploying 100,000 GPUs in just four months was nearly impossible, especially since the site wasn’t even fully built. But not only did the team meet that target, they doubled it, and successfully trained Grok 3. Ruddarraju said these achievements made him very proud and happy to be proven wrong.
Thanking Elon Musk and the xAI Team
Ruddarraju made sure to thank Elon Musk and the entire xAI team for the opportunity. He said, “Thank you @elonmusk and everyone at xAI for giving me the chance to help create something as foundational as Colossus. It was an honor to be part of such an ambitious mission. Seeing the level of focus and execution firsthand was truly inspiring.”
He also gave a special shoutout to the infrastructure and research teams, praising their hard work and partnership. “A special shoutout to the infrastructure team for pulling off what seemed impossible, and to the research team for being amazing partners throughout. You’re the best! Working on Colossus and Grok 3 will always be standout moments in my career,” he added.
Uday Ruddarraju Joins OpenAI
Shortly after leaving xAI, Uday Ruddarraju confirmed that he is joining OpenAI, one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence companies. OpenAI President Greg Brockman welcomed Ruddarraju and three other engineers in a post on X. Ruddarraju responded by reposting it with the comment, “Excited to join you, Greg Brockman!”
This move is seen as a big win for OpenAI, as Ruddarraju brings a wealth of experience in building large-scale AI infrastructure and training powerful AI models.
Ruddarraju’s move comes at a time when the competition for top AI talent is heating up. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has also been hiring former OpenAI employees. This shows that leading tech companies are racing to attract the best minds in artificial intelligence to stay ahead in the fast-changing AI landscape.
Uday Ruddarraju’s departure from xAI and new role at OpenAI marks an important shift in the AI industry. His work on Colossus and Grok 3 at xAI has set new standards for AI computing. Now, as he joins OpenAI, the industry will be watching to see what innovations he helps bring to life next.