Elon Musk's xAI Project and the Grok Chatbot
Elon Musk aimed to make xAI's Grok chatbot the most popular globally, focusing heavily on a female avatar named Ani as a key element in this strategy. While working tirelessly at xAI after leaving the White House following a fallout with the president, Musk devoted himself to advancing Grok's AI capabilities.
Biometric Data Collection for Chatbot Training
To help train the highly sexualized chatbot Ani, Musk instructed his employees to provide biometric data. This data was essential for programming the chatbot to behave and communicate like humans. Employees, acting as AI tutors, were required to sign a form granting xAI an extensive license over their facial images and voices.
Details on Ani and Company Operations
PC Magazine described Ani as a "sexy, NSFW, anime AI chatbotgirl."
Company lawyer Lily Lim informed staff that xAI was developing multiple avatars for communication with Grok users. The biometric data collection was part of training these avatars.
Context of the AI Development Race
This endeavor takes place amid a digital AI arms race. Rival Sam Altman at OpenAI is leading efforts to create nearly sentient "artificial general intelligence," competing with China's advancements.
Musk's Dedication to xAI
Musk based himself at xAI's Palo Alto office and sometimes slept there as he worked to catch up in the AI field according to The Wall Street Journal.
License Agreement for Biometric Data
Employees signed forms granting xAI "a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, sub-licensable, royalty-free license" over their faces and voices.
Summary: Elon Musk intensely focused on building xAI's Grok chatbot, collecting employee biometric data to develop human-like, sexualized AI avatars amid global AI competition.