But xAI also makes it clear that the onus is on the user to judge the AI’s accuracy. “This is an early version of Grok,” xAI says on its help page. As a result, the chatbot “may even provide factually incorrect information, summarize incorrectly, or lack context,” xAI warns.
“We encourage you to independently verify all information you receive,” xAI adds. “Please do not share any personal information or sensitive and confidential information in your conversations with Grok.”
Grok data collection
Another concern is the sheer amount of data collection, especially since you're automatically opted in to sharing your X data with Grok whether you use the AI assistant or not.
xAI's Grok Help Center page describes how xAI “may use your X messages and your user interactions, inputs, and results with Grok for training and tuning purposes.”
Grok’s training strategy has “significant privacy implications,” says Marijus Briedis, Chief Technology Officer at NordVPN. In addition to 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 through Q3 2023” but not “pre-trained on X data (including public X posts),” the company said, Grok-2 is explicitly trained on all “posts, interactions, inputs, and results” from X users, with everyone automatically opted in, said 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 that for Grok,” Allan says.
This led to EU regulators pressuring X to suspend training for EU users within days of Grok-2's launch last month.
Failure to comply with user privacy laws could lead to scrutiny from regulators in other countries. While the U.S. does not have a similar regime, the Federal Trade Commission has previously fined Twitter for failing to respect user privacy preferences, Allan points out.
Log out
One way to prevent your posts from being used for Grok's training is to make your account private. You can also use X privacy settings to opt out of future model training.
To do this, select Privacy & Security > Data Sharing & Personalization > GrokIn Sharing datathen turn off the option that reads: “Allow your messages and your interactions, input, and results with Grok to be used for training and tuning.”
Even if you don’t use X anymore, it’s still worth logging in and signing out. X can use all of your past posts, including images, to train future models unless you explicitly tell it not to, Allan warns.
It’s possible to delete all of your conversation history at once, xAI says. Deleted conversations are purged from systems within 30 days, unless the company is required to retain them for security or legal reasons.
No one knows how Grok will evolve, but based on its actions so far, Musk’s AI assistant is worth keeping an eye on. To keep your data safe, be mindful of what content you share on X and stay up-to-date on any updates to the privacy policy or terms of service, Briedis says. “Using these settings can give you more control over how your information is processed and potentially used by technologies like Grok.”
