Topline
Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, quietly and automatically opted users into allowing their activity on the platform to be shared with its AI assistant, Grok, which is now being trained through public posts, interactions and more.
It is unclear when exactly the new setting was implemented. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via … [+]
Key Facts
Users can opt out of the setting through the “More” tab on the left side of their screens, going to “Settings and Privacy,” then “Privacy and safety” and scrolling down to and clicking, “Grok.”
The setting seemed to appear around Thursday night or early Friday morning based on a flurry of user posts about it, some of which noted data sharing with Grok cannot be disabled on X’s mobile app.
X’s safety page acknowledged the change Friday afternoon, saying in a post that all users “have the ability to control whether their public posts can be used to train Grok.”
Those who opt in to the setting will allow their posts to be used to train Grok, which will also pull data from the interactions, inputs and results users end up generating while using the AI assistant—though Grok is limited to premium X subscribers.
X did not immediately respond to Forbes’ inquiry about the rollout of the setting and when exactly it was implemented.
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Forbes Valuation
We estimate Musk’s net worth at $234.3 billion, making him the wealthiest person in the world.
Key Background
Artificial intelligence is one of several markets in tech Musk has prioritized, as he created his AI startup, xAI, last March. Grok, the AI assistant native to X, is Musk’s answer to other AI chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini assistant, which Musk has characterized as “woke.” Musk made Grok open-source earlier this year, meaning ordinary users can modify and redistribute its source code to create improvements. Grok can be used by X’s Premium and Premium+ subscribers, who pay $7 and $14 a month for the subscription, respectively. X does not sell user data produced by Grok interactions or inputs, according to its website.
Further Reading
Elon Musk’s Chatbot Grok To Go Open-Source—Here’s What To Know (Forbes)
X Fact Checks Elon Musk After He Blasts Apple-OpenAI Partnership As ‘Creepy’ Privacy Nightmare (Forbes)