Grok AI Data Privacy Controls: X Users Can Opt Out Of Training Musk's Chatbot

X has introduced a feature allowing users to opt out of contributing their content and activity to the training of Grok, X's AI chatbot.

X, the social media platform owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, has introduced a feature allowing users to opt out of contributing their content and activity to the training of Grok, the company's artificial intelligence AI chatbot. By default, user data is included in Grok's training process, but X has now provided an option for users to exclude their information, says a report by news agency Bloomberg.

X Users Get More Control

The company announced this new setting on their platform, stating that all users can now control whether their public posts are used in Grok's development. Currently, this option is accessible through the web version of X, with plans to expand it to mobile devices in the near future. For those seeking additional privacy measures, X also highlighted that users can prevent Grok from accessing their data by switching their accounts to private mode, the report added.

To recall, in November last year, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI launched Grok, an AI-powered conversational agent. This chatbot, designed to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT, is currently accessible to X's premium subscribers. Grok's development has relied heavily on data from the X platform.

Musk has not been shy about discussing the use of X's data in Grok's training process. The AI assistant has demonstrated its capabilities by leveraging X posts to provide summaries of current events and respond to inquiries with up-to-date information.

Earlier in May, Musk-owned X is announced it was introducing an array of exciting new AI-powered features to enhance user experience. An official announcement from the X engineering team, shared via the X handle @XEng, said that premium subscribers will benefit from a comprehensive summary of posts associated with each trending story on X. These curated stories will be conveniently accessible under the ‘For You’ tab within the ‘Explore’ section of the platform.

X's approach to AI training using user data is not new in the social media landscape. Recently, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, faced similar issues. In a move that sparked controversy, Meta informed its users in the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom about a planned policy change.

This change would have permitted the company to leverage public posts and content from both Facebook and Instagram for AI training purposes.
However, Meta's initiative met with significant pushback from regulatory bodies. Faced with mounting pressure from these authorities, the company decided to temporarily halt its plans. This incident highlights the ongoing debates and challenges surrounding the use of user-generated content for AI development across various social media platforms.