Musk Recruits Sora Researchers Troy and Eric Luhman for SpaceXAI

Elon Musk confirmed Wednesday that AI researchers Troy Luhman and Eric Luhman are joining SpaceXAI, quote-posting news of the hires on X with the single word “SpaceXAI.”

The post quoted Will DePue, who wrote that the move was big and called the brothers truly world-class. DePue was in turn quoting a welcome message from SpaceXAI’s Umesh Khanna addressed to both researchers. The announcement quickly drew more than two million views.

Troy Luhman arrives from OpenAI’s Sora team, where he said he led audio capabilities for Sora 2 and co-authored the lab’s “Video generation models as world simulators” technical report. Last October, DePue tapped both Luhmans for a new OpenAI team chasing what he described as a high-risk bet with a small but significant chance of leading to ASI, a move Yahoo News Canada covered at the time. Troy said Wednesday that he will focus on long term research at SpaceXAI.

Eric Luhman, Troy’s brother, was also a research scientist on OpenAI’s Sora team and a co-author on the Sora technical report. He confirmed his own move Wednesday, writing that reaching across the stars to build a multiplanetary human civilization is our destiny.

The hires come as SpaceXAI keeps stacking AI talent. Musk merged xAI into SpaceX earlier this year to create the SpaceXAI brand, a combination completed over the summer with a new logo. The company just released Grok 4.7, its latest flagship model. Landing two researchers with frontier video-model experience signals that long-term research remains a priority for the venture.

SpaceXAI

Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 23, 2026

With two Sora veterans now in the fold, SpaceXAI’s research bench keeps getting deeper. The venture has been recruiting aggressively, and Musk’s personal announcement suggests these hires are only the start.