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Musk's AI Firm Sets Sights on Anthropic's Claude Amid Internal Turmoil, Report Says

July 16, 2026 at 11:35 EDT

Foundation Models
Sales & Business

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, renamed SpaceXAI after its merger with SpaceX, has set a near-term goal of matching the performance of Anthropic's Claude, but internal chaos and a shifting strategy have slowed its push, according to a new report.

July 2026 · SpaceXAI

Musk's SpaceXAI Sets Its Sights on Matching Claude

Renamed after merging Grok-maker xAI with SpaceX, the company has told staff its near-term goal is to "match performance of Claude" — but leadership churn and a shifting strategy are slowing the chase.

2023

xAI founded, with Grok as flagship product

2026

Merges with SpaceX, rebrands as SpaceXAI

Dozens

Employees departed, including co-founders

The strategy in one line

Grok follows every Claude update — chasing the leader

Claude update ships

→

Grok update follows

→

"Maximally useful" Grok

Internal Slack channels were named after the rival product; specific benchmark targets remain undisclosed — the goal is framed in general performance terms, not concrete metrics.

Signs of organizational flux

New president installed in spring 2026 to set the near-term direction
Paused hiring for specialists — accounting, finance, science, even comedians — brought on to train Grok
Changed leadership of the Grok training team around June 2026
Courting Wall Street firms to broaden Grok's commercial appeal

Supporters say

The latest Grok releases could hold their own against Anthropic's strongest models.

Critics say

The Grok app's quality is lacking, with broader skepticism about the pace of development. Detailed side-by-side comparisons remain limited.

The open question: can SpaceXAI close the gap with Claude while stabilizing its own organization?

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