SpaceXAI in Talks to Acquire Data From Troubled Startups for Grok Training

SpaceXAI, the AI division of SpaceX, has held informal internal discussions about acquiring customer information and operational data from troubled startups to expand training resources for its Grok model at a lower cost, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg. The talks are not final, and no deal has been confirmed.

The approach mirrors Google's purchase of data from Spirit Airlines for $10 million after the budget carrier ceased operations, a move that drew privacy concerns from some former crew members.

SpaceXAI has previously relied on data from X, the social platform owned by Elon Musk, as well as an internal "AI tutor" team to train and refine its models. Bringing in external datasets would mark an expansion of that strategy. Musk recently told employees in an internal meeting that Grok would be trained on "the sum of all SpaceX information." The company is also continuing to use its internal tutor team to help improve AI capabilities in areas such as finance and science, according to insiders.

In June 2026, SpaceXAI paused hiring for AI tutor roles and later replaced the team's leadership, with Jack Garabedian, a longtime Starlink executive, taking over. He has since focused on stabilizing the team by establishing workflows, regular meetings, and clear data-training goals. A July 2026 work briefing highlighted progress on new AI models and coding agents, crediting the team's daily annotation, preference alignment, and validation work.

SpaceX shares rose 2.6% on September 17.