X AI Pays Wall Street Experts $100/Hour to Train Grok on Finance

Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI is recruiting Wall Street professionals to train its Grok chatbot in financial strategy, paying up to $100 per hour for their expertise. According to job postings viewed by Bloomberg, xAI is targeting investment bankers, portfolio managers, credit analysts, and traders to join its data annotation teams.

The role, described as an “AI Tutor,” requires professionals to teach Grok how people approach financial modeling, investing, and market discussions. Candidates must hold at least a Master’s degree in a finance-related field. xAI is also recruiting crypto experts to help the chatbot better understand digital assets.

Big Tech’s Race Into Finance

xAI is not alone in targeting the financial sector. OpenAI and Anthropic have both launched tools aimed at streamlining tasks like market analysis and investment memo writing. OpenAI recently enabled ChatGPT integration directly within Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. The aggressive push by AI companies into enterprise finance has alarmed investors in legacy software firms like Salesforce and ServiceNow, who fear being overtaken.

xAI’s Struggles and Road Ahead

Despite raising over $42 billion in total funding — including a $20 billion Series E round in January 2026 — xAI has faced headwinds. The startup lost around a dozen employees, including several co-founders, early this year. Musk acknowledged on X that xAI “was not built right first time around” and announced a full structural rebuild. The startup currently employs roughly 5,000 people, trailing OpenAI’s 7,500.

The finance hiring push signals xAI’s intent to secure enterprise clients and reduce its reliance on revenue from Musk’s own companies, Tesla and SpaceX.