Elon Musk's X (Twitter) is now training its Grok AI using your data - here's how to stop it

Rob Waugh
·Contributor
Updated ·3-min read
CANNES, FRANCE - JUNE 19: Elon Musk attends 'Exploring the New Frontiers of Innovation: Mark Read in Conversation with Elon Musk' session during the Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity 2024 - Day Three on June 19, 2024 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Marc Piasecki/Getty Images)
Elon Musk's X network is to start training AI on user data (Photo by Marc Piasecki/Getty Images)

Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, has added a setting which allows the network to use users’ information to train its Grok AI.

The new setting appears to be "on" by default for most users and allows the network to gather their information to train Grok - not just from posts, but from other interactions with the site.

The new setting says: "To continuously improve your experience, we may utilize your X posts as well as your user interactions, inputs and results with Grok for training and fine-tuning purposes.

"This also means that your interactions, inputs, and results may also be shared with our service provider xAI for these purposes."

ADVERTISEMENT

The company made the change with little fanfare so it will have doubtless gone unnoticed by many users, although Musk did announce that his the company had begun training Grok this week in a post on X, promising "the world’s most powerful AI by every metric by December this year."

The Grok logo is being displayed on a smartphone in this photo illustration in Brussels, Belgium, on June 10, 2024. (Photo Illustration by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Grok is a chatbot similar to ChatGPT only accessible to X subscribers (Getty Images)

Grok is a chatbot (similar to ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude) that is accessible via X, but only to subscribers.

Once known as TruthGPT, Musk initially billed Grok as "a maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe". Musk has promised that Grok will be ‘anti-woke’ and offers a ‘Fun Mode’ as well as an ‘Unhinged Fun Mode’.

Similar changes at Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) have triggered complaints from data rights groups. Meta emailed Facebook and Instagram users in May to warn of a change, aiming to use user data to develop AI.

ADVERTISEMENT

Privacy campaigners Open Rights Group (ORG) said: "With the latest update of their privacy policy, Meta has stated their intention to feed all the data they hold (about you) on their Facebook and Instagram platforms for the purposes of training 'AI technology'.

"While Meta also stated that they would only use 'public posts', their privacy policy contradicts this by including any personal data collected through these platforms, with the sole exclusion of private chats."

ORG has raised a complaint with regulators over the issue.

Veronika Pozdniakova, a privacy expert at privacy-focused phone company Murena, said, "As is often the case with online services, the new terms and conditions lack transparency, and this change directly impacts user privacy because the AI will be trained using users' personal information, which they may not be aware of or fully comprehend.

Users should regularly review and manage data shared on such platforms, including posts, interactions, and direct messages. Users also can opt out by abandoning a platform whose terms and conditions they don't agree with."

You can’t change this setting in the mobile app, but you can withdraw consent to your data being used in the desktop version of X on Mac or PC.

ADVERTISEMENT

To do so, just go to your profile, then Settings > Privacy and Safety > Data Sharing and Personalization.

Select Grok, and then switch the slider to ‘Off.’

Latest stories

  • "Instagram Vs. Reality": This Woman Bought A House From DIY Influencers, And It Shows How Fake Social Media Can Be

    "Honestly, it makes me really sad to think that there are pictures out there of my house that could be making people feel less than about theirs."

  • This "Leaked Photo of Heaven" Went Viral for All the Wrong Reasons

    God's Country A "leaked photo of heaven" has been going mega viral on social media this week. The purported photo shows a half-baked and architecturally unsound city, seemingly carved into chalky rock and set against what appears to be the Milky Way. It was a low-brow and technologically lacking instance of AI slop, but caught the attention of millions of netizens nonethless. "Leaked photo of heaven is going viral on social media," one X-formerly-Twitter account wrote in the caption of the photo

  • Digital driving licences to be ‘put on phones this year’

    Driving licences are to be digitised and put onto smartphones later this year, it has been reported.

  • These 3 stocks would be the big winners if TikTok is banned in the US

    With a possible ban looming for the popular short-form video app, these stocks are set to gain as companies look to capture TikTok users' screen time.

  • Explainer-What will happen to TikTok in US as Supreme Court upholds ban?

    (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled against TikTok's bid to avoid a ban that could shut the app down in just two days and impact millions of users who rely on the platform for entertainment, ecommerce and ad dollars. The looming ban is the end result of 2024 legislation passed on national security concerns that called for TikTok parent ByteDance to sell the popular short-video app or see it shut in the United States on Jan. 19. It remained unclear how long a potential ban would stay in place as President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Monday, has said he would try to find a "political resolution" of the issue to keep the app operating in the United States.

  • TikTok Says App Will Shut Down in U.S. Jan. 19 Unless Biden Administration Provides ‘Definitive Statement’ That Ban Will Not Be Enforced

    TikTok said it will be “forced to go dark” on Sunday, Jan. 19, unless it receives a “definitive statement” from the outgoing Biden administration that the app’s tech partners won’t be penalized under the divest-or-ban bill. On Friday morning, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal by TikTok and parent ByteDance to halt a law that will ban …

  • TikTok sell-or-ban law is upheld by US Supreme Court

    The US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law requiring TikTok, the popular Chinese short-video app, to be banned unless it secures a non-Chinese buyer by Sunday. The ruling delivers a significant blow to TikTok, which has 170 million American users, amid escalating concerns over national security risks tied to its Chinese ownership. The court's ruling is a major development in a political, legal and business saga involving China that has been unfolding for nearly five years, since debate around t

  • New phone shop creates local jobs in town centre

    A new O2 phone shop has opened in a former GAME store in an Oxfordshire town.

  • What Happens If TikTok Shuts Down? Here's Everything We Know.

    Your TikTok app could look different as soon as this weekend.

  • Chinese firm, founded by Huawei alumni, needs scrutiny, lawmakers say

    Baicells, a Chinese telecoms hardware maker founded by veterans of heavily sanctioned Huawei that has equipment operating in every American state, needs rigorous scrutiny by the U.S. government, the top Republican on the House Select Committee on China said. "The presence of this company - or any company with known cyber vulnerabilities in their products - anywhere in the U.S. should raise significant national security alarms," John Moolenaar said in a statement to Reuters. "The Chinese Communist Party is relentlessly pursuing efforts to export its oppressive surveillance state, and companies like Baicells, despite their claims of security, must be scrutinized rigorously."

  • Why are people taking selfies in front of the LA wildfires?

    As long as there have been front-facing smartphone cameras, people have snapped selfies in inappropriate settings.

  • Will Donald Trump save TikTok from Joe Biden? He’s going to try

    Analysis: Trump sees halting the bipartisan TikTok ban as an easy way to show he’s delivering results. He’s probably right, writes John Bowden

  • The Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban slated to start Sunday. What happens next remains unclear.

    The Supreme Court has decided to uphold the law that will ban TikTok on Jan. 19 if its parent company ByteDance continues to refuse to sell the app before then.

  • Microsoft Bets Office Subscribers Will Pay 30% More for AI Tools

    (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. is raising the price of its package of Office apps for consumers, a bet that subscribers will be willing to cough up more for access to new artificial intelligence tools.Most Read from BloombergNYC Commuters Get New Way to Dodge Traffic: $95 Helicopter RidesThese Homes Withstood the LA Fires. Architects Explain WhyScaramucci, Ackman Donate to Whitney Tilson’s NYC Mayoral RunIn a City of Sprawl, Wildfire Evacuation Is Getting HarderWill Americans Ever Lose Their Tas

  • Why Apple (AAPL) Shares Are Falling Today

    Shares of iPhone and iPad maker Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 3.2% in the afternoon session after data from research firm Canalys revealed the company (AAPL) is losing dominance in China. The data revealed that iPhone shipments in China fell 17% to 42.9 million units in 2024, pushing Apple down to third place in market share. The decline was partly blamed on the lack of artificial intelligence features in new iPhones. This weak point is significant for Apple since China accounted for roughly 17% of i

  • Six ways a TikTok ban could impact young people

    Social media platform TikTok may be banned in the US from 19 January. Here, we take a look at the impacts on users and creators.

  • YouTube star Ms. Rachel built her multimillion dollar empire by entertaining toddlers online. Now, she’s scored a deal with Netflix

    The entertainment giant hopes the sing-songy content creator’s 13 million young fans will follow her to the streaming service.

  • TikTok ban live: App gives ultimatum it would ‘go dark’ for 170 million American users on Sunday

    TikTok said the Biden administration must give the likes of Google and Apple reassurances that they won’t be punished, or they will pull the app in the U.S.

  • Intel Stock Gains On Speculative Buyout Report, Details Remain Unclear

    Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) stock gained Friday on reports claiming that the struggling chipmaker is an acquisition target. The stock has plunged 54% in the last 12 months. Charlie Demerjian of SemiAccurate claimed an email about a resourceful company trying to acquire Intel wholly. However, the report did not disclose the name of the acquirer or the purchase consideration for Intel. Reportedly, CFO Dave Zinsner had acknowledged the possibility of selling Intel’s factory and product development div

  • Nintendo shares down on detail-light Switch 2 teaser

    Nintendo shares tumbled as much as seven percent on Friday after the Japanese games giant failed to impress with a teaser video of its hotly awaited Switch 2 console.Nintendo shares closed 4.3 percent lower in Tokyo on Friday.