Elon Musk’s X latest privacy update: Biometrics data collection & AI training on public data raise user concerns

In a recent development, the social network platform, X, has raised eyebrows with updates to its privacy policy. The changes reveal the company's intentions to collect biometric data, as well as users' job and education history.

However, there's more to the story. Another section of the updated policy discloses X's plans to utilise the data it gathers, along with publicly available information, to train its machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) models.

Uncovering the policy change

Alex Ivanovs of Stackdiary, known for spotting significant updates in the terms of service of tech giants, brought attention to this matter. He has previously identified AI-related policy alterations in companies like Brave and Zoom. The specific policy change can be found in section 2.1 which states that X may use collected data for the purpose of training its AI models.

NEWS: X’s updated Privacy Policy has added a mention of using X data to train AI models 👀 pic.twitter.com/Bn5YyoeHjq

— X News Daily (@xDaily) August 31, 2023

X's new privacy policy: Collecting biometric data with user consent

In a noteworthy update to its privacy policy, social network X has introduced changes that have raised concerns among users. One significant alteration involves the collection of biometric data, contingent upon user consent. This revelation came to light when Bloomberg reported on the updated policy.

However, X's data-gathering ambitions extend beyond biometrics, as another policy update discloses the company's plans to utilise user information, along with publicly available data, for the training of its machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) models.

Elon Musk's ambitions & speculations

Interestingly, X is owned by Elon Musk, a notable figure in the tech industry with aspirations to venture into the AI market through another entity called xAI. This leads to speculation that Musk intends to leverage X as a valuable data source for xAI.

Musk has previously expressed xAI's intention to use ‘public tweets’ for AI model training, making this connection seem plausible. Musk has even accused major tech giant Microsoft of using Twitter data to train their AI models and has taken legal action against entities scraping Twitter data for potential AI training purposes.

Furthermore, the xAI homepage explicitly mentions collaboration with X (Twitter), Tesla, and other companies, affirming its ties to Musk's broader AI ambitions.

Musk's confirmation & privacy assurance

Elon Musk himself essentially confirmed the privacy policy change, responding to a post on X by clarifying that the plan is to use ‘just public data, no DMs or anything private.’ This reassures users that their private messages are not part of the data being considered for AI model training.

Just public data, not DMs or anything private

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 31, 2023

As this story unfolds, it raises important questions about the evolving relationship between social networks, AI, and user privacy. Users are understandably concerned about the potential uses of their data and will be closely watching how X and xAI navigate this new terrain.