Robert Keele, the head of legal at xAI, has announced his resignation after serving just over a year in the role. Citing a desire to spend more time with his two young children, Keele also acknowledged differences in worldview with xAI’s founder, Elon Musk.
In his announcement on both X and LinkedIn, Keele expressed his love for his toddlers and the challenges of balancing family life with the demands of his position. He described his tenure at xAI as incredible and working alongside Musk as the adventure of a lifetime. However, he admitted that managing both family and professional responsibilities simultaneously was unsustainable.
Keele’s departure has elicited widespread support from colleagues and fellow parents on social media. He joined xAI in May 2024 as the company’s first legal head, shortly after launching his own brief legal venture. At the time, he expressed excitement about the opportunity to lead xAI’s legal team.
During his tenure, Keele oversaw significant milestones for xAI, including a substantial $6 billion Series B funding round in May 2024, which valued the company at $24 billion. This funding was backed by prominent venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. In March 2025, xAI acquired X, Musk’s social media company, in a deal that valued xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion.
Prior to joining xAI, Keele held positions as head of legal at autonomous aircraft manufacturer Elroy Air and as general counsel at Airbus’s Silicon Valley innovation center.
Lily Lim will succeed Keele as xAI’s head of legal. Before transitioning to law, Lim was a rocket scientist at NASA, contributing to spacecraft navigation projects, including mapping Venus’s surface. She joined xAI in late 2024 as a privacy and intellectual property specialist, following legal roles at various firms and companies like ServiceNow.
Keele’s resignation is part of a broader trend of executive turnover within Musk’s enterprises. Recently, X CEO Linda Yaccarino also stepped down, and Tesla has experienced the departure of several top executives. Musk is known for his high expectations of employees, often encouraging long working hours, including instances of staff sleeping at the office during critical periods.
