Linda Yaccarino, who has served as CEO of X since Elon Musk appointed her to the function in June 2023, introduced Wednesday that she is stepping down.
Her departure comes lower than 4 months after Musk announced that X could be absorbed into xAI, the billionaire’s current synthetic intelligence startup. In a post on X, Yaccarino thanked Musk for “entrusting me with the accountability of defending free speech, turning the corporate round, and reworking X into the Every little thing App.”
Below her management, Yaccarino mentioned that X did “important early work” to make the platform secure for customers and to “restore advertiser confidence.” She pointed to new options like Neighborhood Notes, a system for crowdsourcing fact-checks of X posts. “Now, the most effective is but to come back as X enters a brand new chapter with @xai,” Yaccarino wrote.
Yaccarino didn’t say why she was leaving X or whether or not she had accepted a task at one other firm. Her announcement comes hours after Grok—a chatbot developed by xAI that has been built-in instantly into X—started making antisemitic remarks in replies to consumer queries. Grok seemingly started producing the offensive content material after Musk claimed on July 4 that the chatbot had been “considerably” improved and that customers would “discover a distinction” when asking it questions.
X didn’t instantly reply to a question from WIRED about whether or not it deliberate to nominate a brand new CEO for the social media platform. Musk at present serves because the chief govt of xAI, now the mum or dad group of X. “Thanks in your contributions,” Musk wrote in a reply to Yaccarino’s departure announcement.
Yaccarino joined X in 2023, lower than a 12 months after Musk acquired what was then referred to as Twitter and assumed the function of CEO. In December of 2022, Musk polled his followers about whether or not he ought to step down as Twitter’s chief govt. Days after the ballot ended and nearly all of customers answered sure, Musk mentioned that he would resign as soon as he discovered a alternative.
The next spring, Musk announced that Yaccarino, then an promoting govt at NBCUniversal, could be taking up as X’s CEO in about six weeks. However even after Musk handed the reins, he remained a central public determine and decisionmaker at X, in addition to the corporate’s chairman and chief technology officer.
Previous to becoming a member of X, Yaccarino was the pinnacle of promoting and chair of worldwide promoting and partnerships at NBCUniversal. She was additionally appointed to a presidential sports, fitness, and nutrition council in 2018 through the first Trump administration.
