Elon Musk tells a user that most people's data is not useful for training Grok Bot, but that xAI needs it to debug and improve the product

Context

This is a reply from Musk, whose company makes Grok Bot, to a user asking how to turn off training on his data. It does not describe a setting, while Grok Bot's documentation says training opt out follows the user's Cursor account privacy settings.

Deep dive

On October 17, Simon Smith, who works on generative AI at Klick Health, posted that he was trying Grok Bot as part of evaluating personal agents. He wrote that the first thing he noticed was that he could not find a setting to turn off training on his data, that his bot did not know either, and asked how to control the use of his data.

Elon Musk replied that unless you are doing something super unique, your data is not actually useful for training, but that xAI does need some way to debug issues and make the product better. He added: We don't have ESP!

The reply does not say whether user data is used for training or how a user can opt out. Grok Bot's documentation says the bot uses Cursor authentication and account data settings, that it requires data storage and does not support Cursor's Legacy Privacy Mode, and that training opt out follows the applicable Cursor account and privacy settings.

Earlier the same day, Musk replied to another user that Grok Bot will not access anything unless specifically asked, in response to a request for a way to block it from certain X chats.

What to expect next

Watch whether xAI adds a training control inside Grok Bot itself, rather than relying on Cursor account settings that new users may not know about.

Also watch how xAI explains what data it keeps for debugging and for how long, since users are connecting email, banking and messaging accounts. Privacy questions like Smith's may grow as more professionals test Grok Bot for work.