Elon Musk's xAI and the Grok Chatbot
Elon Musk aimed to make xAI's Grok chatbot the most popular globally, viewing the female chatbot Ani as pivotal to this goal.
Use of Biometric Data
Musk instructed employees to provide biometric data to help train the highly sexualized chatbot. This data included faces and voices, which employees had to license to xAI under a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free agreement.
Working Conditions and Efforts
After parting ways with the White House, Musk dedicated himself to xAI, working at its Palo Alto office—sometimes even sleeping there—to accelerate Grok’s AI capabilities. His efforts were part of a broader AI arms race, particularly against OpenAI's Sam Altman, competing with China to develop advanced artificial general intelligence.
Development of Avatars
According to company lawyer Lily Lim, xAI was creating several avatars to interact with Grok users. The Ani chatbot was characterized by PC Magazine as a "sexy, NSFW, anime AI chatbotgirl."
"Employees were told they must hand over their biometric data in order to train the chatbots on how to act and talk like human beings."
Employee Roles and Requirements
Those providing biometric data worked as AI tutors and were required to sign forms granting extensive rights over their biometric information to xAI.
Summary: Elon Musk pushed xAI’s Grok chatbot by using employee biometric data under broad licenses, focusing on creating provocative AI avatars as part of a high-stakes global AI competition.