Elon Musk Utilized Employee Biometric Data for Chatbot Development
Elon Musk aimed to make xAI's Grok chatbot the world's most popular, focusing on the female chatbot Ani as a crucial element of this goal. To achieve this, Musk instructed his team to provide biometric data to train the highly sexualized chatbot while dedicating himself fully to advancing AI technology.
Musk’s Dedication Following White House Departure
After leaving The White House due to a sudden fallout with the president, Musk concentrated on building Grok's capabilities. He operated mainly from the Palo Alto xAI office, sometimes even sleeping there, in a bid to catch up in the competitive AI field.
The AI Arms Race Context
This effort takes place amid intense competition between the US and China to develop advanced artificial intelligence. Rival Sam Altman at OpenAI is leading the US side in creating what is often described as nearly sentient "artificial general intelligence."
Development of Avatars for User Interaction
About a month before Musk's focused campaign, company lawyer Lily Lim informed employees that xAI was creating multiple avatars to engage with Grok users. One avatar, Ani, was characterized as a "sexy, NSFW, anime AI chatbotgirl" by PC Magazine.
Employee Biometric Data Collection
Employees working as AI tutors were required to submit their biometric data to help train the chatbots to behave and speak like humans. They had to sign a form granting xAI “a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, sub-licensable, royalty-free license” to use their faces and voices.
"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."
"xAI 'a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, sub-licensable, royalty-free license' over their faces and voices."
Author’s summary: Elon Musk aggressively pushed xAI’s Grok chatbot development using employee biometric data to create a provocative AI personality, highlighting fierce US-China rivalry in advanced AI technology.