X (Twitter) Training Grok AI on Tweets Without User Opt-In
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The social network formerly known as Twitter (X) recently enabled a setting that allows it to train its Grok AI on user tweets. All X users are opted in by default — and the company neglected to notify users about the change.
The setting grants permission to the social network to use all posts, replies, inputs, and results to train and fine-tune X owner Elon Musk’s Grok AI model.
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. Learn more
The setting is turned on for all users by default, although it can be turned off on the website. Here’s how to do that:
- Open up X in a web browser on a Mac or PC and log in.
- Click on More.
- Click on Settings and privacy.
- Click on Privacy and safety.
- Click on Grok.
- Uncheck the checkbox that says Allow your posts, as well as your interactions, inputs, and results with Grok to be used for training and fine-tuning.
This privacy setting is not available in the X app, so users must disable it through the web version of X. However, the option to turn it off on mobile devices is said to be on its way.
As you might imagine, turning on a data collection feature without first announcing it and opting in users without their explicit consent has not gone over well with X users.
Sometime in the last month or so, X updated the wording about Grok in its “Help Center.” The wording previously said that “user interactions, inputs, and results” would be used to train Grok. However, it now includes wording to include X users’ posts.
Grok has been able to access “real-time public X posts” to respond to X premium users’ queries. However, it has not been established if X posts were being used for training Grok. As reported by MacRumors, the opt-out toggle was seemingly enabled sometime around May, meaning that’s likely when X first began using users’ posts to improve the chatbot.
From the X Help Center:
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 when you interact with Grok, your interactions, inputs and results may be used to train and enhance the system’s performance. This allows us to:
Enhance Grok’s understanding of human language and communication.
Improve Grok’s ability to provide accurate, relevant, and engaging responses.
Develop Grok’s sense of humor and wit to make interactions more enjoyable.
Ensure Grok remains politically unbiased and provides balanced answers.
Elon Musk tweeted on X earlier this week that Grok was being trained on “the most powerful AI training cluster in the world,” without mentioning that the cluster was made up of X user posts.
