‘Full-circle moment’: Once mocked during hackathon, Indian-origin techie Vineeth Sendilraj joins Elon Musk's AI company

Vineeth Sendilraj described it as a full-circle moment, reflecting on the mockery he faced just a week prior. His post received widespread attention on social media.

Written By Mausam Jha
Updated18 Dec 2025, 01:39 PM IST
Vineeth Sendilraj, criticized for his drinking habits during a hackathon, announced he is joining Elon Musk's AI company. Photo: Vineeth Sendilraj/X
Vineeth Sendilraj, criticized for his drinking habits during a hackathon, announced he is joining Elon Musk's AI company. Photo: Vineeth Sendilraj/X

The tables always turn! Indian-origin techie Vineeth Sendilraj, who was criticised on social media for his drinking habits during a hackathon, recently shared a life update that perfectly captures this idea.

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In a post on X, Sendilraj wrote about how, after facing the mockery, he is now joining Tesla CEO Elon Musk's AI company, calling it a “full circle moment.” He wrote, “1 week ago I got clipped for drinking water. now I'm joining @xai to build the future of AI. full circle moment.”

Earlier, addressing the incident, Sendilraj said on X, “1 million people judged how I drink water. I was damn thirsty” on December 9.

Vineeth was one of four Georgia students from the Class of 2024 to be named US Presidential Scholars. He studied at Lambert High School, where he was also a member of the track team.

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In an interview with the school’s publication, Sendilraj said his goal was to make the world a better place. “Coming from a middle-income family, we aren’t aware of many of the struggles that others around the world face,” he explained.

Netizens react

By the time of writing, the post had garnered 402.9K views, 131 reposts, and 3.7K likes.

Social media users flooded the comments with reactions. One wrote, “Welcome to the team, congrats on winning the hackathon again. Can’t wait to work with you!”

Another commented, “They hired you for your skills.”

A netizen joked, “Recreate this photo on your first day,” while another pointed out, “You didn’t get clipped for drinking water—you just happened to be drinking water when someone took the photo. Congrats on joining xAI though.”

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A user noted, “Congratulations now you want to keep the on the pressure send the reserve prototypes our fields experiment are tearing @xai and @grok apart. We need them to meet our challenge.”

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