Have you read the latest about Elon Musk and his new social media app, X? Well, I think they have managed to get the better of us this time around. They also subtly altered some default settings to employ our posts to train the AI called Grok. Reminds you of a sci-fi film, isn’t it?
What is Grok all about?
So, here’s the breakdown. Grok is Musk’s new AI project, designed to be extra intelligent, and useful. It is like having a robot companion who likes to educate you on various topics. But what if I tell you, Grok is getting all this training data from us – yes, from our posts, comments, and interactions on X.
New Settings on X
Now, rather quietly, X has included a new option in its settings. When you go to the data sharing and privacy part, there is an option of Grok available. It questions whether the user would like to contribute the posts and interactions to improve this AI model. By default, this box is checked. Therefore if you are like most people who rarely go to settings, you probably have already signed up for this artificial intelligence training program and did not know.
How to Opt-Out
A little apprehensive about this? No worries, you can unsubscribe. But there’s a catch. Despite this, you are allowed to uncheck the box next to this prompt or make your account private. And here comes another turn of events – this can only be accomplished on the desktop version of X, not the application. It is as if they are playing a game of hide and seek with the settings of the pictures.
Premium Users and Grok
Let us now see what Grok actually is and how it could help you.
There is a bonus if you are an X Premium or Premium+ subscriber. While using the platform, you can seek assistance from Grok to assist you with your searches. Think of Grok as a search companion, where your searches are far more fun than usual.
The very page of X Help Center states that Grok is here to entertain you while answering your questions.
Grok’s Personality
Grok is conceived as the informer par excellence with a good dose of humor. Musk and his team at xAI, the company behind Grok, have grand visions for this AI. They expect it to respond to nearly any query with a little humor and give intelligent answers. It is as if you have a robot, which has the knowledge of an encyclopedia and the humor of a comedian.
Training Grok
First, Grok was trained on a number of text data from public databases. However, it has never had the opportunity to learn from X data. Thus, by training Grok with our posts, it focuses on the enhancement of the understanding of human language, the development of the sense of humor, and the absence of political preferences. Thus, to some degree, our tweets are similar to the fairy tales we are reading to Grok so that it would turn smart.
Musk’s Ambition
Elon Musk is setting up Grok as the most powerful AI out there, and to do that, he’s training Grok with supercomputers in Memphis. Notably, within 19 days of installation, xAI began Grok’s training. That’s like preparing a rocket for blast-off within the shortest possible time!
Conclusion
Well, what do you have to say about this new development on X? It is rather curious, somewhat spooky and absolutely something to be monitored. If you are alright with your posts being used in Grok’s learning process then you are good to go. If not, it is high time to investigate these settings and make some alterations.
