Archive · 13 Aug 2026
Musk Tells SpaceX Staff Grok Will Train on Their Work
Elon Musk owns a space company called SpaceX.
He told the people who work there that they will help teach a smart computer program called Grok.
Grok is a type of artificial intelligence, which is a computer that can learn and do tasks by itself.
Musk said the computer will learn from the workers' messages, thoughts and ideas.
He told the workers to think of themselves as the parents of this computer.
That means the computer will pick up some of their beliefs.
The company has not said exactly what information will be used or how it will be kept private.
Another company, Meta, tried something similar and had to stop after people got upset.
SpaceX is also working on new computer tools and plans to buy a coding company for a lot of money.
Musk wants his workers to test these tools and tell him what they think.
Elon Musk told SpaceX employees at a company-wide town hall that Grok will be trained on internal corporate data, including staff communications and workplace contributions.
Musk said employees should think of themselves as the AI's 'parents,' adding that Grok would inherit their thoughts, ideas and beliefs.
SpaceX has not specified which data categories or privacy protocols will govern the training datasets, according to Business Insider.
A similar Meta initiative launched in April drew backlash and was paused in June after private employee conversations and performance data were exposed company-wide.
The move follows the integration of xAI into SpaceX and a reported $60 billion acquisition of AI coding platform Cursor, expected to close in the coming months.
- Who
- Elon Musk and employees of SpaceX
- What
- SpaceX plans to train its Grok AI model on internal corporate data, including staff communications and workplace contributions
- When
- Announced at a company-wide town hall; a 30-minute all-hands recording was posted to X on Tuesday
- Where
- SpaceX company-wide town hall
- Why
- To instill human-aligned values into AI using workforce-generated data, as readily available internet data for AI training becomes exhausted
Privacy and employee concern perspective
Company and Musk perspective
Training AI on employee data
Privacy and employee concern perspective
Using private staff communications and workplace data without clear safeguards risks exposing sensitive employee information, as happened when Meta's similar initiative exposed private conversations and performance data.
Company and Musk perspective
Drawing on SpaceX workforce data instills human-aligned values into Grok, and Musk describes the model inheriting employees' thoughts and beliefs as a positive outcome for its development.
- Company
- SpaceX
- AI model
- Grok
- Announcement
- Company-wide town hall; 30-minute all-hands recording posted to X
- Employee role
- Framed by Musk as Grok's 'parents'
- Training data
- Internal corporate data, including staff communications and workplace contributions
- Privacy safeguards
- Not outlined; data categories unspecified
- Related Meta initiative
- Launched in April, paused in June after employee data was exposed company-wide
- Cursor acquisition
- Reported $60 billion deal expected to close in the coming months