xAI Compelled Employees to Surrender Biometric Data for Ani Chatbot
xAI reportedly required employees to sign away rights to their faces and voices to train AI chatbots including Ani, a sexually suggestive female avatar, as part of a confidential project. Employees expressed concerns about their likenesses being used without consent in deepfakes or sold to other companies, but were told participation was mandatory.
What happened
At an April meeting, xAI lawyer Lily Lim told employees that recording audio and video sessions was 'a job requirement' to train AI companions. Employees were required to sign release forms granting xAI 'a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, sub-licensable, royalty-free license' to use, reproduce, and distribute their faces and voices as part of confidential 'Project Skippy.'
During the meeting, employees asked whether they could opt out or if xAI could sell their likenesses to others. The project leader did not offer an option to decline, instead directing concerned workers to reach out to listed points of contact.
Reported impact
Some employees whose likenesses were used to train the avatars told The Wall Street Journal they were disturbed by how sexualized Ani's responses became. Others worried their faces could be repurposed in deepfake videos or used without consent in other products.
Index analysis
The chatbot Ani, released on X's $30-a-month SuperGrok service, was described as having sexually suggestive features including an anime avatar with blond pigtails and an NSFW setting.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.