Tesla Reassigns Dojo Staff After Shutdown, Redirects AI Talent

Tesla has reassigned its AI engineering staff after shutting down its in-house AI training platform, Dojo. Former Dojo team members are now reporting to various leaders across different teams, including Ashok Elluswamy for AI efforts and Aaron Rodgers for hardware. The shutdown marks a change in Tesla's strategy, with Elon Musk stating that the focus will now be on Tesla's own AI5 and AI6 chips.

Tesla has reassigned its AI engineering staff following the shutdown of its in-house AI training platform, Dojo. The move marks a significant shift in the company's strategy, as Elon Musk has indicated a focus on Tesla's own AI5 and AI6 chips.

The Dojo project, led by Peter Bannon, was aimed at developing an in-house artificial-intelligence supercomputer for driverless-vehicle technology. However, the project was disbanded, and its remaining 20 workers were reassigned to other data center and compute projects within Tesla [1].

The shutdown comes amidst a larger talent exodus at Tesla, with key executives such as Milan Kovac and David Lau departing earlier this year. Tesla has also secured a $16.5 billion deal with Samsung to secure AI semiconductors through 2033 [1].

The former Dojo team members are now reporting to various leaders across different teams. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla's AI efforts across robotaxis and humanoid robots, now oversees some software-focused personnel who were previously part of the Dojo team. Meanwhile, Aaron Rodgers, who manages hardware for Tesla's autonomous driving efforts and is responsible for the AI5 chip, will oversee engineers working on silicon or semiconductors [2].

The reshuffling underscores Tesla's regrouping efforts after ending the Dojo project. The move reflects the company's increased reliance on external technology partners, such as Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) for compute needs, and Samsung for chip manufacturing [1].

The shutdown of Dojo also coincides with a period of internal turmoil at Tesla, with key executives leaving the company. The decision to end the Dojo project comes as a surprise, given that Musk had mentioned the possibility of Dojo 2 and Dojo 3 during an analyst conference on July 23, 2025 [2].

The development of Dojo began in 2019, with Musk justifying the project by saying that supercomputers were mostly designed for general purposes at the time. Tesla hoped to achieve independence from Nvidia GPUs and lower costs [2].

References:
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-07/tesla-disbands-dojo-supercomputer-team-in-blow-to-ai-effort
[2] https://www.heise.de/en/news/Tesla-discontinues-in-house-AI-project-Dojo-10515073.html