Elon Musk’s xAI Gets New Law Head Amid $6 Billion Fundraising

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI Corp. hired Robert Keele as its legal chief before clinching a $6 billion fundraising in its bid to challenge OpenAI.

Keele joined xAI earlier this month, he said in a recent statement posted to his LinkedIn profile. He previously was general counsel and compliance chief for aviation giant Airbus SE’s Silicon Valley incubation center Acubed.

Musk’s xAI operates Grok, a chatbot that the technology mogul has pitched as a rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The company, which Musk started last year and framed as supporting “safe” superintelligence, announced on May 26 the closure of a Series B financing. Investors include venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, as well as Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal.

xAI in recent months has waged a talent recruiting war with OpenAI and others keen on expanding their generative AI capabilities. Musk, who helped found OpenAI, sued the company and its CEO Sam Altman earlier this year.

“We’re hiring for numerous roles,” Keele said in a LinkedIn post Monday, referring to xAI’s “small team focused on making a meaningful impact on the future of humanity.” He flagged the online careers page for the company, which has job listings in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Calif., and London. “I know this notion has become a startup cliché, but for some opportunities, it’s the truth,” he said.

Keele and xAI didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Keele joins xAI from Elroy Air Inc., a pilotless aircraft startup where he served as head of legal and compliance since last summer. An Elroy Air spokesperson confirmed that Keele left the company in April.

Unique Background

Keele, in his prior posting to LinkedIn, said he “couldn’t pass up an opportunity to run legal at xAI.” He said he was “beyond stoked, and insanely lucky” to be chosen for the job.

xAI garnered a pre-money valuation of roughly $18 billion in its most recent fundraising effort. The startup courted investors by selling its access to Musk’s constellation of companies, known as the “Muskonomy,” according to a Bloomberg News report in February. Musk’s xAI has trained and integrated its Grok chatbot on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

In his nearly seven years at Acubed, where Keele landed after serving as its outside counsel, he handled a mix of legal, compliance, and policy responsibilities. That included work for Airbus’ now-defunct flying taxi and helicopter service Voom and being co-lead of quantum sensing and computing.

“Rob is top notch, he’s a business-minded lawyer and adept strategic thinker,” said Tobias “Toby” Mock, a former WilmerHale counsel who succeeded Keele as Acubed’s legal and compliance chief and is now interim chief executive for the technology incubator. “He’s sharp on technical topics—he helped to kickstart blockchain and quantum projects at Acubed—and has a lot of knowledge and experience in the AI world, so the move to xAI makes total sense.”

Keele started his legal career a decade ago as an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

His resume is somewhat unusual for a corporate legal executive. Before embarking on a legal career, Keele worked as a plumber, musician, insurance agent, and early startup employee and executive, all while traveling to more than 70 countries, according to online biographical materials. That additional life experience may have helped Keele stand out from others as xAI sought its first legal head.

Musk has previously expressed a preference for working with lawyers who have an entrepreneurial mindset or expertise.