Elon Musk's Biometric Data Use for xAI's Grok Chatbot
Elon Musk aimed to make xAI's Grok chatbot the world's most popular AI, focusing on a key feature: a female avatar named Ani. Described by PC Magazine as a "sexy, NSFW, anime AI chatbotgirl," Ani was central to this strategy.
Data Collection from Employees
Musk instructed his employees to provide biometric data to train the chatbot on human-like behavior and speech. Those selected worked as AI tutors and were required to sign a form granting xAI a broad, royalty-free license to use their faces and voices globally indefinitely.
The license was described as "a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, sub-licensable, royalty-free license" over employees’ biometric features.
Development Context and Environment
The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk intensely focused on advancing Grok's capabilities in May at xAI’s Palo Alto office, sometimes staying overnight there. His dedication followed a fallout with the president, which led him to leave The White House and fully immerse himself in the AI race.
This drive for advancement occurs amid a digital arms race between the U.S. and China, where rival Sam Altman at OpenAI leads efforts to create near sentient “artificial general intelligence.”
Internal Plans for Avatars
About a month before Musk’s push, company lawyer Lily Lim informed employees that xAI was creating multiple avatars intended to interact with Grok users, with Ani being a prominent example.
Musk’s mission was to make xAI’s Grok chatbot the most popular in the world, and he saw female chatbot Ani as the key to his success.
Summary
Elon Musk leveraged employee biometric data to train xAI’s provocative chatbot Ani, pushing his team hard amid a fierce AI global competition.