Here’s a scary fact; basically everything that you produce on the internet could be, and probably has been, scraped to train an AI model. It’s been happening for years, and it will continue for years. If you’re using Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), well, every post you make can be used to train its AI model named Grok. Here’s how to stop X from scraping your data to train Grok.
What is Grok?
Here’s a quick rundown of what we’re talking about. Companies like OpenAI, Google, Anthropic AI, etc., have and train their own AI models. Well, Elon Musk owns a company called xAI, and that company has a model named Grok. It’s what’s powering the company’s AI tools, but it hasn’t gotten as much traction as Gemini or GPT-4.
You’re reading this because you don’t want X to scrape your data, but you can still generally use the AI model if you’re into the technology. If you want to use it, you’ll need to sign up for an X Premium subscription. There are three payment tiers that you can choose from, but if you want to access Grok, you’ll need to use the most expensive tier which costs $16/month if you pay using the website. If you use the app, it will cost you $22/month.
This will give you access to other features along with Grok. Check out What You Need To Know About X Premium if you want to know more information.
How to keep X from scraping your data to train its AI
It’s pretty frustrating to know that your posts are being stolen to train an AI model. It’s even more unsettling if you’re against AI. So, blocking X from scraping your data could be an act of protest.
Firstly, and this seems like a passive-aggressive move by Elon, you can’t disable this feature on mobile. More people use X on their mobile devices, so this reduces the chance that people will disable the feature.
On your home page, go to the More button and click on Settings and privacy. There, go down to the Privacy and safety button.
You’ll see another panel appear. On that panel, scroll down to the Grok button and click on it. When you do that, you’ll see only one item appear. This will be the checkbox that allows X to train Grok on your data. Just uncheck that box and there you have it.
X won’t use your posts to train its AI. There’s also the option to delete your conversation history in Grok.
