But X also makes it clear that the onus for judging the AI’s accuracy lies with the user. “This is a pre-release version of Grok,” xAI says on its help page. Therefore, the chatbot can “safely provide factually incorrect information, summarize poorly, or miss some context,” xAI warns.
“We encourage you to independently verify any information you receive,” xAI adds. “Please do not share personal data or any other personal information.” sensitive and confidential information in your conversations with Grok.”
Grok Data Collection
Collecting large amounts of data is another concern, especially since you automatically opt in to share your X data with Grok whether you use the AI assistant or not.
The Grok of xAI Aid The hub page describes how xAI “may use your X posts, as well as your user interactions, inputs, and results with Grok for training and tuning purposes.”
Grok’s training strategy carries “significant privacy implications,” says Marijus Briedis, CTO of NordVPN. Beyond the AI tool’s “ability to access and analyze potentially private or sensitive information,” Briedis adds, there are additional concerns “given the AI’s ability to generate images and content with minimal moderation.”
While Grok-1 was trained on “publicly available data up to Q3 2023” but not “pre-trained on X data (including X public posts),” according to the company, Grok-2 has been explicitly trained on all of X users’ “posts, interactions, inputs, and outputs,” with all of them automatically subscribed to, says Angus Allan, senior product manager at CreateFuture, a digital consultancy specializing in AI implementation.
The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is explicit about obtaining consent to use personal data. In this case, xAI may have “ignored this aspect in the case of Grok,” Allan says.
This led EU regulators to pressure X to stop training for EU users within days of Grok-2’s launch last month.
Failure to comply with user privacy laws could lead to regulatory scrutiny in other countries. While the United States does not have a similar regime, The Federal Trade Commission has already fined Twitter before for not respecting users’ privacy preferences, says Allan.
Opt-out
One way to prevent your posts from being used to train Grok is to make your account private. You can also use X privacy settings opt out of future model training.
To do this select Privacy & Security > Data Sharing & Personalization > Grok. In Data exchangeUncheck the option that says “Allow your posts, as well as your interactions, contributions, and results with Grok, to be used for training and adjustments.”
Even if you no longer use X, it’s worth logging in and unsubscribing. X can use all your past posts (including images) to train future models unless you explicitly tell it not to, Allan warns.
According to xAI, it is possible to delete your entire conversation history in one go. Deleted conversations are removed from their systems within 30 days unless the company needs to retain them for legal or security reasons.
No one knows how Grok will evolve, but judging by its actions so far, Musk’s AI assistant is worth keeping a close eye on. To keep your data safe, be careful about the content you share on X and stay informed about any updates to its privacy policies or terms of service, Briedis says. “Interacting with these settings allows you to better control how your information is handled and potentially used by technologies like Grok.”
