--- title: "Stability AI CEO Disappeared in His Pajamas in Bizarre Incident" description: "Days after Stability AI founder Emad Mostaque's ouster from the company, a Fortune report on the unraveling of the AI startup reveals a striking portrait of Silicon Valley's AI gold rush fervor — and just how quickly one of the industry's buzziest early investment relationships has already fallen apart. Stability emerged as a major player […]" date: "2024-03-29" modified: "2024-03-29" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/stability-ai-ceo-pajamas" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai bros" - "ai industry" - "stable diffusion" - "Startups" --- # Stability AI CEO Disappeared in His Pajamas in Bizarre Incident ![A new report reveals the chaos behind the startup Stability AI, including an incident where its now-ex CEO disappeared in his pajamas.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Days after Stability AI founder Emad Mostaque's [ouster]() from the company, a [*Fortune* report]() on the unraveling of the AI startup reveals a striking portrait of Silicon Valley's AI [gold rush fervor]() — and just how quickly one of the industry's buzziest early investment relationships has already fallen apart. Stability emerged as a major player in the AI space in August 2022 when Stable Diffusion, the company's advanced text-to-image AI, went viral in online developer circles. The impressive image-generating model was quickly billed as the open-source competitor to closed-source rivals like OpenAI's DALL-E and Midjourney, and [frothy investors]() were gunning to fund the viral model. By mid-September, massive cash infusions from the investment firms Coatue and Lightspeed transformed the company from a buzzy startup to a billion-dollar industry unicorn. But while Stability's — not to mention Mostaque's — outward star and influence was rising, the company's internal world was reportedly chaotic from the jump. In one striking anecdote provided by *Fortune*, back in December 2022 Mostaque was said to have suddenly disappeared off the grid. This left employees scrambling to communicate with the investors who had weeks ago handed the company roughly $100 million. Not even Mostque's wife Zehra Qureshi, who was deeply involved in the company, knew where he was, reportedly texting one employee that her husband had simply walked off in his pajamas. Pajama incident aside, according to the report, the company's chaos seemed mostly driven by a destructive lack of organization. One former employee who worked at Stability's London office told *Fortune* that "there was literally no structure in place in the business at all," explaining that day-to-day employee tasks were constantly changing in ways that felt far less than productive. "One day \[employees would\] be working on a marketing strategy," the staffer told *Fortune*. "Before that, they weren't quite sure. And another day, they'd be working on something completely different." At one point, another source told *Fortune*, a "roadmap" for the company was created at the behest of increasingly frustrated investors at Coatue. Once that document was shipped off, though, the source claims that no one at the company seemed to ever pull it up again. The company's lack of organization reportedly hindered its ability to effectively scale, further souring Stability's investment ties. Then, in June 2023, Mostaque's relationship with his funders took another blow when a [*Forbes* report alleged that]() the founder had a history of exaggerating his qualifications. Mostaque denied the embellishment claims, but a Stability investor told *Fortune* that Mostaque and his funders "started to speak less" after the *Forbes* report was published. By November 2023, barely a year after coughing up an incredible amount of funding, a [*Bloomberg* report]() revealed that Coatue had called for Mostaque to step down in an October letter to Stability executives. "This — where you've got folks resigning from the board right after a $100 million round," an unnamed Stability investor told *Fortune*. "That level of souring is pretty uncommon — at least that early anyway." Of course, the CEO wouldn't resign until last weekend. In an email to *Fortune*, he reportedly cited the stress of being CEO as the main reason for his departure, but we can't imagine there was a particularly healthy working relationship happening in the meantime. "Nobody tells you how hard it is to be a CEO and there are better CEOs than me to scale a business," Mostaque told *Fortune*, though added that he's "very proud of the team there." "I look forward to moving onto the next problem to handle," the statement continued, "and hopefully move the needle." Stability's [future remains deeply murky](). Now, per *Fortune*, investors and remaining executives are working to salvage what remains — and perhaps wondering what, [besides AI hype](), made Stability so valuable in the first place. **More on Stability:** [*Ousted Founder of Stability AI Seen Meeting With Microsoft CEO*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()