Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is now hiring bankers, traders, portfolio managers and private credit lenders in order to strengthen the financial strategy capabilities of its Grok chatbot, according to a report by Bloomberg. The job postings of the company show that it is actively building data annotation teams staffed by finance professionals who will train Grok to think through complex modelling tasks like leveraged loan syndication, distressed investing, and structured products like mortgage-backed securities and collateralised loan obligations.
xAI expanding into financial markets
The Bloomberg report further suggests that xAI is also recruiting specialists in crypto and equity trading, signalling a broad ambition to make Grok useful for investing professionals. This move of the company aligns with a wider industry trend, as rivals OpenAI and Anthropic have already launched tools designed to streamline market analysis, investment memos, and other financial workflows.
Catching up with competitors
xAI, which merged with SpaceX last month, has so far lagged behind competitors in signing up business customers. Much of its revenue has come from Musk’s other ventures, including Tesla and SpaceX. The company is rebuilding its strategy after a turbulent start to the year, marked by staff departures and controversy over Grok generating non-consensual explicit images.
Recent moves to strengthen Grok
Musk has recently hired senior talent from Cursor, a leading AI coding startup, to bolster xAI’s technical capabilities. He has also touted Grok’s potential to “help with your taxes,” after recruiting accountants to train the system. Internally, Grok’s training is overseen by AI tutors, with teams feeding data and refining responses. The company is now focusing heavily on credit markets, which are under pressure as private credit funds face redemptions and volatility.
