Back in July, users of X found out that Grok AI, the platform's artificial intelligence model, opted them in for AI training on their posts and interactions. But the company, owned by Elon Musk, created an option that users could disable to prevent that from happening.
Now, new Terms of Service for the site seem to signal that the company will no longer let users opt out. The changes, which X says will go into effect Nov. 15, state in part, "You agree that this license includes the right for us to (i) analyze text and other information you provide and to otherwise provide, promote, and improve the Services, including, for example, for use with and training of our machine learning and artificial intelligence models, whether generative or another type." The text is in a section titled, "Your Rights and Grant of Rights in the Content."
According to the Terms of Service, by using X, users are granting the company license to train machine-learning models on content that users post or provide. It's unclear whether that includes private data users provide to X, direct messages, or other information that is not public.
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last year, the service began collecting biometric data as well as employment and school history, as part of a move to use public data to train its AI.
Read more: How to Opt Out of Instagram and Facebook Using Your Posts for AI
For now, the option to opt out of Grok AI still exists on desktop and mobile versions of X. In settings under data sharing, the option reads, "Allow your posts as well as your interactions, inputs, and results with Grok to be used for training and fine-tuning." Text below that states that the data may also be shared with X's "service provider xAI for these purposes." There's also an option on the page to "delete conversation history."
The training of AI systems on user data has become a controversial practice, with companies including Apple, OpenAI and Meta coming under scrutiny for training AI on data without permission, or in ways that are not evident to users. AI systems need more and more data to evolve and update their models, and tech companies are increasingly seeking new sources of information to feed them. That could lead to a data shortage in the next few years, some experts say. In Europe, where tech restrictions are more prevalent, companies including Meta and Apple are withholding some of their AI features.
How to opt out
Opting out of X's Grok training for now requires going into Settings, selecting Privacy and safety, and selecting Grok under the Data sharing and Personalization section.
If you manage multiple accounts on the platform, you'll need to opt out separately for each one.