Elon Musk’s xAI has appointed Starlink engineer Jack Garabedian to lead the team responsible for training its Grok chatbot, replacing Diego Pasini, who had overseen the human data group for the past year and a half.

Garabedian, a SpaceX executive since 2021, will now manage hundreds of experts who train Grok across subjects including finance, science and technology. The leadership change comes as xAI undergoes a broader management reshuffle following its acquisition by SpaceX and amid hiring slowdowns and staff departures within its AI training operations.

The move also reflects Musk’s growing reliance on trusted SpaceX executives as the company prepares for its initial public offering. Garabedian previously worked on Starlink deployments in Ukraine, customer operations and the integration of Grok into Starlink support systems before taking on the new role.