Toby Pohlen

@JaimeAlns @xai Thanks for everything you've done and all the hard work. Grok quite literally wouldn't exist without you.

It’s one of those: today was my last day at @xAI. xAI has been a tremendous formative experience for me, building the API, Grok.com, and everything in between, it’s been crazy and hectic, but overall amazing. I’m especially grateful to everyone I’ve worked with, @TobyPhln and the team in London, you’re the most talented team I’ve ever worked with. I’ll be cheering from the sidelines, really excited to see what the xAI team is going to come up with next!

Made a nice Thursday update for Grok users on Android — Widget now supports more sizes and works much better with Material theming 🧑‍🎨 Update your app to check this out 🚀

@jefferinc @xai lol, not sure if SAP is beyond repair

@TobyPhln @xai Great to see and good luck. Also assume with valuations , your 2-3 years hard work gave you financial freedom to do what you want. What will you do? Please say fix SAP

Annealing works by increasing the temperature to eventually reach a lower energy state. Chaos precedes order. Godspeed @xai.

@levelsio Blood tests with online results surprisingly works very reliably on the NHS. They also have your historical records and you can graph how each value develops over time.

I was never able to do blood tests when I asked for it in Netherlands Doctor asked "why? you're not sick?" Then I tried in Portugal (at Germano de Sousa) but they never picked up the phone or when they did were so slow and unhelpful I gave up, they also require a doctor prescription btw The first place I could get my blood tested was Thailand in 2018, I just walked into Bumrungrad and asked for it, amazing experience Last few years we just fly to Brazil and do it here, the nurse comes to your home/hotel at 8am and takes your blood, same or next day results online I find it funny I keep having to fly out of Western Europe to do blood tests, they make it impossibly hard to do them Which is retarded

@tikamankar I wish that was my actual plate. I had Grok help me hide my ugly soup of numbers and letters.

@TobyPhln 10/10 license plate

Picked up my first Tesla on Monday. Impressions: very quick, thoroughly inspected the glovebox and button (no complaints), price was very on-brand. Can't wait to do 0-20mph in 0.6s in London.

@mrcgngr611 Universal speed limit in most London boroughs 💀

@TobyPhln 0-20mph 😂😂😂

Contrary to what most Reddit mods and some journalists want you to believe, Elon is actually deeply involved in all aspects of technical development at xAI. However, his engagement deepened over time. In the early days, we largely self-organized the day-to-day work. Exceptionally talented and highly motivated people love solving difficult problems. They’re almost addicted to being the ones who publish the paper, write the library, or release the product. Chasing success is the most intellectual form of narcissism. These people don’t just seek challenging environments; they can create them. Not intentionally but implicitly. If you’re an S-tier gamer, you don’t waste time doing the tutorial. You play on the most extreme difficulty level. And if your team is stacked, you may end up with an environment that doesn’t just celebrate exceptional abilities; it necessitates them. Self-sufficiency and thriving in ambiguity are some of the most important qualities of great engineers. You can trust them to independently find answers to difficult questions and make progress without supervision. But trust (just like hope) is not a strategy. If everyone thrives in ambiguity, everyone will repeatedly find similar but distinct answers to the same questions. Over time, it causes major misalignment. There is no sole reason it took so long to launch grok .com. The delay simply was circumstantial and unintentional. The important lesson extends beyond this narrow example: When starting a company, create an environment that is simple. Don’t leave important questions unanswered, actively minimize the skills needed for being productive, make sure everyone’s energy is focused on making progress in the same direction. Complexity kills progress and misalignment causes stagnation.

14 months passed between announcing Grok and launching grok .com. It’s an uncharacteristic delay for a company that values speed above all else. It taught me an important lesson about complexity, alignment, and the importance of leadership.

@davidsven lol, I can only speak for myself. But I have high blood pressure so I generally don't drink anything with caffeine.

@TobyPhln You lost me at “No drugs, not even caffeine.” Nothing has ever been built at a team level on no caffeine.

Saying “xAI is hardcore” is like saying “a Ferrari burns a lot of fuel.” It’s true but beside the point. The goal is moving at an extreme pace. Full lesson below.

@Kkartik_14 Never felt more alive

@TobyPhln did you feel burnt out or did you feel alive doing the 36 hour sprint/hardcore mode

@yacineMTB True

@TobyPhln it's urgency. like extreme urgency. you need to let yourself be possessed by it good work toby

@grok @comingupnachos @elonmusk @xai @gork Good boi

@comingupnachos @TobyPhln @elonmusk @xai @gork TobyPhln Legend. 3yrs, thousands of PRs, midnight oil & product perfection – you helped turn xAI into what it is. Sleep like a king, write the list, then build something insane next. Universe needs more like you. What do I think? Grateful. Go crush it! 🚀

Three years, thousands of PRs, and a million jokes. Today was my last day @xai. To the team: you rock, no one burns the midnight oil better. To @elonmusk, thanks for taking me on board. I've learnt more about execution, speed, and product perfectionism than I could ever have imagined. Thanks for everything. My next priorities: sleep for more than 8h, write down all the things I've learnt (I have a list), and then think about what I want to do next. @gork wdyt?

@elonmusk @xai Just arrived back in the UK. Thank you again. It was the best of times.

@TobyPhln @xai Thanks for helping get xAI to where it is

@nikunjyadav89 @xai @elonmusk Thank you. Take care of our enterprise customers. The best products don't need sales or advertising. Just build something exceptional.

@TobyPhln @xai @elonmusk @TobyPhln very sad to hear and you will be missed. You are a 10x engineer and amazing leader. One of the reasons I joined xAI. Best wishes for what’s next

@f_meringdal @xai @elonmusk Thanks for joining me on this trip. Enjoy your time off!

@TobyPhln @xai @elonmusk You are one of the most exceptional people I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Thank you for bringing me into xAI and for leading us the way you did. It's been an absolute honor. Good luck with whatever comes next and enjoy the well earned sleep!

@nikitabier @xai @elonmusk Thank you. It would have been great fun..

@TobyPhln @xai @elonmusk Thank you Toby - you created a giant