xAI is opening an office in Seattle, and offering salaries as high $440,000.
In an X post late on Thursday, Elon Musk’s AI startup said it was setting up a new office in the West Coast city, adding to existing sites in San Francisco, London, and New York.
The company’s website is advertising three technical staff job openings that can be based in the new office, including positions working on xAI’s video and image generators.
All three roles advertise annual salaries ranging from $180,000 to $440,000.
Tech companies have been offering ever-larger salaries to AI workers during a competitive AI race. At OpenAI, technical staff can pull in up to $530,000 a year, while research engineers earn up to $690,000 at Anthropic, according to data from federal filings reviewed by Business Insider.
xAI also has offices in Memphis, Dublin, and Austin, which is home to several of Musk’s other companies. Last year, xAI reportedly moved into OpenAI’s old offices in San Francisco’s Mission district, which Musk initially leased when he cofounded OpenAI.
xAI has raised billions as it aims to take on OpenAI and Meta, but the company has faced controversy over its Grok chatbot and has seen several recent high-profile departures, including cofounder Igor Babuschkin and general counsel Robert Keele.
In July, xAI issued an apology after Grok made a series of inflammatory comments on X, including praising Adolf Hitler and making antisemitic jokes.
The young startup said the chatbot’s “horrific behavior” was caused by new instructions instructing Grok to be less “politically correct.”
xAI’s new office in Seattle brings it into Microsoft’s backyard. The tech giant’s global HQ is located in the city of Redmond, just outside Seattle.
xAI could not immediately be reached for comment.
