Former Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) AI Manager Paril Jain has denied claims the EV company's CEO Elon Musk has lost the capacity to retain talent.
What Happened: "Had a great productive chat with Elon Musk before leaving, would've stuck around longer if I didn't have the itch to chase a specific vision. Don't see any capacity eroding on his front...," Jain wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
He was responding to a media report that said the long list of executive departures from Tesla hints at the company losing its ability to attract and retain talent.
Had a great productive chat with @elonmusk before leaving, would've stuck around longer if I didn't have the itch to chase a specific vision.
— Paril Jain (@pariljain) May 14, 2024
Don't see any capacity eroding on his front like the article mentions
Jain announced his departure from Tesla on Monday amid wider company layoffs, saying it has "been an incredible 7 years building the best self driving product on the market."
"While I had always planned to help Tesla get to the final destination of global deployment of Robotaxis, I think it's time to accelerate [the] rest of the robotics industry and build more bots that give people time back," he added.
Jain's Vision: Jain has started a robotics company called The Bot Company with former Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt and former Cruise engineer Luke Holoubek. The company is aimed at building robots that do chores and is valued at $550 million after it raised $150 million in a recent funding round.
When asked if his new company would compete with Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus, Jain on Wednesday replied in the negative and said, "No – it'll just be useful to people."
No – it'll just be useful to people
— Paril Jain (@pariljain) May 15, 2024
Why It Matters: Jain is part of a long list of executives who have departed the company amidst Musk's efforts to streamline Tesla's workforce. Other notable departures include Senior Director of Charging Infrastructure Rebecca Tinucci, Director of New Product Introduction Daniel Ho, Senior Vice President of Powertrain and Energy Engineering Drew Baglino, And Vice President of Public Policy and Business Development Rohan Patel.
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