Elon Musk owes several of his employees $420

Elon Musk owes a group of xAI employees $420, according to a report from Bloomberg. The CEO reportedly promised employees earlier this year that he would pay that sum of money if they offered their personal tax returns as training data for Grok. Surprisingly, the payments have not yet been made.

This was an attempt to improve Grok’s abilities before the April 15 US tax deadline. Many people use AI chatbots to help with their tax filing, despite the risks, but most opt ​​for Claude or ChatGPT over Grok. The company is apparently trying to reverse this trend.

So executives began offering employees the aforementioned cash payment, according to company posts spotted by Bloomberg. They were also offered early access to X Money, a long-delayed payments platform for social network X.

It appears that some employees have coughed up relevant data, including completed tax returns and supporting documents and documents from this year or last year. However, months passed and that check for $420 never arrived. Staff allegedly asked about the payment, only to discover that the program manager no longer worked there. The company has not yet responded to Bloomberg report.

I don’t know why anyone would hand over something as sensitive as tax information to Elon Musk, among others. However, the Americans are in trouble. A few hundred dollars may not be enough in 2026, but it’s something.

The remaining payment amount remains. Why did Elon Musk offer $420 bonus? It’s a reference to weed that dates back to the 1970s. He loves this joke, even if it’s not the first time it’s gotten him in trouble. He once posted on social media that he had secured financing to buy all of Tesla’s stock at $420 per share.

This has led to obvious confusion and major market disruption. NASDAQ temporarily suspended trading in Tesla stock, and Musk was charged with securities fraud by the SEC. A jury ultimately found him not responsible for the losses suffered by Tesla investors following this publication. Musk said on the stand at that trial that just because he posts something doesn’t mean “people believe it or will act on it.” That’s good to know.