Just over a year after joining xAI, Robert Keele is stepping away from his role as head of legal — trading startup chaos for toddler cuddles.
Keele announced his departure this week on both X and LinkedIn, saying it’s time to focus on his two young kids. “I love my two toddlers and I don’t get to see them enough,” he wrote. That message struck a chord across social media, drawing support from xAI colleagues and fellow parents alike.
Despite calling his stint at the Elon Musk-led AI company “an adventure of a lifetime,” Keele admitted he couldn’t keep “riding two horses at once — the family and the job.” He also noted that there was “daylight between our worldviews,” hinting at some philosophical differences with his famously intense boss. Musk himself has yet to comment on the exit.
From Launchpad to Exit
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
Keele joined xAI in May 2024, just after launching his own legal startup — Keele Law — which lasted a brief but meaningful three weeks. “I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to run legal at xAI,” he said at the time, calling himself “beyond stoked, and insanely lucky.”
His arrival coincided with a major turning point for xAI. That same month, the company announced a whopping $6 billion Series B round backed by giants like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, bumping its valuation to $24 billion.
Things moved fast. By March of this year, xAI pulled off a high-profile acquisition — absorbing Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Musk later stated the deal valued xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion. It was a whirlwind stretch, even by Silicon Valley standards.
Keele brought solid legal chops to the table. Before xAI, he was the top legal hand at Elroy Air and served as general counsel for Airbus’s Silicon Valley innovation lab. Smart, seasoned, and ambitious — but ultimately drawn back home to what matters most.
Who’s Taking the Reins?
Lily Lim will be stepping into Keele’s shoes as xAI’s new legal chief. And she brings an intriguing resume of her own.
Before becoming a lawyer, Lim worked at NASA as a rocket scientist, helping map the surface of Venus. She moved into law with a focus on privacy and intellectual property, logging time at ServiceNow and other companies before joining xAI in late 2024.
In short: she’s no stranger to navigating complex terrain — whether it’s space or startups.
A Pattern Across Musk’s Orbit?
Photo by Dustin Tramel on Unsplash
Keele’s departure mirrors a broader pattern in Musk’s world. Just last month, X CEO Linda Yaccarino also stepped down. Meanwhile, Tesla has seen multiple senior leaders exit. There’s long been a reputation inside Musk’s companies for demanding work expectations — including employees literally sleeping at the office in crunch periods.
That culture isn’t unique to Musk’s teams, though. Some newer tech startups are adopting similar attitudes. For instance, the CEO of AI coding company Cognition recently told employees he doesn’t believe in work-life balance. It’s worth noting at a time when startup pressure continues colliding with personal priorities.
The Trade-Offs Behind the Titles
Keele’s story highlights something real. Even in the heart of high-stakes innovation, where funding rounds are huge and profiles are bigger, people still have to choose. Career or family. Growth or space. And sometimes, something’s gotta give.
Keele’s decision is a reminder that not all exits are about failure or friction. Sometimes, it’s just about saying, “enough for now.”
And for what it’s worth, he didn’t close any doors. Just stepped through a different one — toward home.
Keywords: xAI, Elon Musk, Robert Keele, legal chief, startup, family time, career, work-life balance, Lily Lim
