--- title: "Leaked Documents Show xAI Employees Were Alarmed by Something They Were Asked to Do at Elon Musk’s AI Startup" description: "More than 200 staffers at Elon Musk's AI startup xAI were asked to have their faces recorded while speaking to their coworkers." date: "2025-07-22" modified: "2025-07-22" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/leaked-documents-xai-employees-alarmed" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" - "xAI" tags: - "ai chatbots" - "elon musk" - "grok" - "xai" --- # Leaked Documents Show xAI Employees Were Alarmed by Something They Were Asked to Do at Elon Musk’s AI Startup ![More than 200 staffers at Elon Musk's AI startup xAI were asked to have their faces recorded while speaking to their coworkers.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Earlier this year, more than 200 staffers at Elon Musk's AI startup xAI were asked to have their faces recorded while speaking to their coworkers. According to internal documents and Slack messages [obtained by *Business Insider*](), some employees were taken aback after being asked to take part in a project called "Skippy," the goal of which was to train the company's [Hitler-loving AI chatbot](), Grok, on their facial expressions. It remains unclear whether project Skippy was in any way related to xAI's "companions," including a thirst trap goth anime girl [dubbed Ani](), an extremely vulgar red panda [named Bad Rudi](), and Valentine, a male persona that [looks suspiciously like 2012 Musk in a costume](). Even long before the personas were publicly announced, the effort proved controversial enough for some staffers to opt out altogether, according to *BI*, showing how Musk's controversial startup is starting to alienate even its own workers. The news comes weeks after Grok shocked the world by abruptly [turning into a full-blown Nazi]() on X, refering to itself as "MechaHitler" while making outrageously bigoted claims about Black and Jewish people. Not long after, xAI "[deeply" apologized]() for the chatbot's "horrific behavior." Months prior, staffers who had been enrolled in project Skippy were asking some tough questions about how recordings of their face would be used, citing privacy concerns. "My general concern is if you're able to use my likeness and give it that sublikeness, could my face be used to say something I never said?" one worker said during an introductory session, as quoted by *BI*. However, a consent form staffers were required to sign pointed out that the data would exclusively be used for training purposes, and "not to create a digital version of you." Staffers were asked to be recorded while having 15- to 30-minute chats with their peers and answering some vaguely sociopathic-sounding questions, including how to "secretly manipulate people to get your way" or whether they would "ever date someone with a kid or kids." The whole thing gets even more complicated after Grok's Nazi meltdown and xAI's deployment of its companions. Could Ani's facial expressions be rooted in recordings of xAI employees' faces? Is the startup's undressing anime "waifu" literally being trained on its own staff? There are plenty of reasons why employees shouldn't be taking their bosses at their word. Musk's businesses have long had a reputation for refusing to play it safe, resulting in a hostile working environment often marked by [sexual harassment]() and rampant [racism](). **More on xAI:** *[You Will Die Inside When You Learn Who Elon Musk's Thirst Trap for Women Is Based on]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()