Users are increasingly concerned about how companies use personal data to train AI models without explicit consent. Now, you can add Elon Musk’s Grok, the chatbot created by xAI, to that list. X recently activated a default setting allowing the platform to train Grok using user data. This update was implemented without notifying users.
Musk calls Grok’s “supercluster training,” calling it the most powerful AI training cluster globally. However, what wasn’t disclosed is that X users’ data is being used for this training—without their explicit permission.
On its website, X states: “To continuously improve your experience, we may utilize your X posts as well as your interactions, inputs, and results with Grok for training and fine-tuning purposes. These interactions may also be shared with our service provider xAI.”
How to Opt Out
While you can’t disable this setting from the X mobile app, you can change it via the website. Here’s how:
- Open X in your browser.
- Click “More” at the bottom of the left menu.
- Go to “Settings and privacy.”
- Under “Privacy and safety,” scroll down and select “Grok.”
- Uncheck the box next to “Allow your posts as well as your interactions, inputs, and results with Grok to be used for training and fine-tuning.”
If you’ve previously interacted with Grok and want to delete your chat history, click the link for “Delete conversation history” and confirm the deletion.
X isn’t the only platform collecting user data for AI training—Meta and OpenAI do as well. These companies use real user data to make AI models behave more like humans. The problem arises when platforms like X enable this data collection by default, leaving it up to users to opt out and protect their data.