🏠 Grok meets Black Mirror..

xAI employees were asked to have their faces recorded to train Grok

Author

Brett Goldstein
July 28, 2025

GM! It’s Brett again. I’ve helped 20+ founders make the decision to shut their companies - and I always say the same thing: let go.

Your identity gets wrapped up in your company naturally, so when things aren't working it’s hard not to say "this is my life's work. I'm not a quitter."

I said that when my last company wasn't working out. But as soon as I let go and gave myself the space to breathe, new exciting ideas popped into my mind.

Naval says it best: “The greatest entrepreneurs are always willing to start over.”

If you truly believe in yourself (and you should), starting over is easy, because it gives you a chance to do something even bigger.

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🏠 AI

Say Cheeeese…

Last week, xAI ran into fresh trouble. Over 200 staff members were tapped for an internal project called "Skippy," where they recorded their facial expressions and conversations to teach the company's chatbot, Grok, how to better read human emotions.

But things got messy quickly.

Employees grew uneasy with the consent forms - which gave xAI “perpetual rights” to their likeness for training and promotional materials. Some even worried their faces could be manipulated to say things they never said .

A tangent here is that xAI recently rolled out avatars like Ani and Rudi - both controversial for explicit or violent interactions. Now there are speculations if Skippy directly fueled these avatars, the timing didn't help optics.

This isn’t xAI’s first ethical stumble either. Just this month, Grok had to be paused briefly after generating antisemitic content.

The bigger picture - We're seeing an escalating debate around privacy, consent, and transparency in AI training - especially when real people's identities and behaviors become the raw material for building human-like AI products.

As we push deeper into “emotionally intelligent” AI, companies will face increasing pressure to define clear ethical boundaries. Without transparent policies and explicit consent standards, AI development risks losing public support or triggering heavier regulation.

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🎯 THE 80 / 20

Simple tricks to get a ton of value with minimal effort for work and life.

The Month-End Flush

Every tool you forgot to open this month? Nuke it.
Downgrade the plan, pause the account, or remove your access. Saves cash and mental clutter.

Do the same for all the open tabs in your browser. If you didn’t need it today, you won’t need it tomorrow (probably). Use a tab manager if you’re feeling fancy.

And lastly, think back: what did you do more than 3 times this month?
Write it down. Then see if you can automate it with N8n, Zapier, or any other AI tool.

That’s it. You’ll walk into the next month lighter, sharper and faster.

😂 FROM THE FEED

 

❓️ AI GENERATED OR NOT

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Here’s the original.

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