xAI's Macrohard Project Stalled: Leadership Exodus, 600-Person Team Paused, Work Shifted to Tesla's Digital Optimus

xAI's core AI Agent project Macrohard has stalled. Announced by Musk last August, it aimed to use AI to simulate white-collar work at software companies, but has seen frequent leadership changes since launch—recently, many core members have resigned or transferred, and there are no related positions on the recruitment page.

Meanwhile, a data collection project involving 600 AI annotators was paused last month. They had recorded work and leisure activities via screen recordings for model training; the project leader said adjustments to the model and data methods were needed, but it hasn't restarted yet.

Tesla is taking over this direction, with some work and computing power transferred to its Autopilot team. Its Digital Optimus AI Agent uses real-time video stream processing (similar to FSD), unlike Macrohard's static screenshot method. Musk stated this is a joint project between xAI and Tesla, part of Tesla's $2 billion investment agreement with xAI.