Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI reportedly launched an internal initiative called “Project Skippy” to enhance its AI chatbot Grok by teaching it to understand human emotions and facial expressions, according to a report by Business Insider.
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Launched in April 2025, the project involved over 200 employees, especially AI tutors.
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Participants were asked to record 15- to 30-minute video conversations, playing both the user and the AI assistant.
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The aim was to improve Grok’s ability to read emotional cues and analyze facial expressions—a step toward making AI interactions more human-like.
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These videos were used to train Grok’s multimodal models, which integrate text, speech, and visual input.
This move aligns with broader AI industry trends focused on emotional intelligence and conversational realism, competing with similar efforts by OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Meta. However, it also raises privacy and ethical questions about employee consent and the use of biometric data for training.
