Your Tweets Are Used to Train Grok. Change These Settings Now to Stop it

Elon Musk’s X—or Twitter, as most of us still call it—has its own AI chatbot called Grok. In 2024, the company changed its policy so that public tweets were used to train the AI by default. The move was unnerving; who wants their data provided to an AI that has produced racist and antisemitic rhetoric and generated sexualized images of underage girls? Not me.

It’s important to remember that all these tools are directly influenced by the people who make them, so it’s not just about Grok. But it just feels like I’m always hearing about how this specific AI is saying or doing something offensive because Elon wants to weigh in on whatever public discourse is happening at the time. (Remember when Grok had a lot to say about white genocide in South Africa?) If you’re still using X but don’t want any part in training Grok, here’s how to make sure it’s not using your data against your will.

What Data Is Grok Using?

According to this help page, X shares your public data with xAI, a Musk startup that acquired X in 2025 and was acquired by SpaceX in February. It’s responsible for training and developing generative AI models, including Grok. That public data includes public posts, engagements, reposts, conversations on Spaces, and profile information, such as your bio and display name, as well as any interactions you may have with Grok itself. This is all used to improve Grok’s ability to understand requests, provide more accurate responses, and personalize its interactions with you.

The good news is that X offers several ways to control when your public data and interactions with Grok are used to train the company’s AI systems. You can opt out of model training and Grok personalization, delete your conversation history with Grok, or make your account private.

Opt Out of AI Training

To ensure my data wasn’t being used to train Grok, I opened Settings and privacy > Privacy and safety > Grok & Third-party Collaborators and found three things enabled by default:

• Allow your public data, as well as your interactions, inputs, and results with Grok and xAI, to be used for training and fine-tuning.

• Allow X to personalize your experience with Grok.

• Allow Grok to remember your conversation history.

I unchecked all three. If you previously used Grok and now want nothing to do with it, click Delete conversation history and choose Delete again.

Get Our Best Stories!

Your Daily Dose of Our Top Tech News

Sign up for our What’s New Now newsletter to receive the latest news, best new products, and expert advice from the editors of PCMag.

Sign up for our What’s New Now newsletter to receive the latest news, best new products, and expert advice from the editors of PCMag.

By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy
Policy.

Thanks for signing up!

Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!

(Credit: PCMag/X)

Make Your Account Private

The other way to protect your tweets from Grok is to make your account private, since X doesn’t use data from private accounts for its AI training. Go to Settings and privacy > Privacy and safety > Audience, media and tagging, and enable Protect your posts, so only people who follow you can see your tweets. (Look for a lock icon next to your username to know it’s protected.) Click the box next to Protect your videos, and any videos in your posts will not be downloadable by default.

(Credit: PCMag/X)

Block Image Editing

Though X has blocked Grok from creating sexualized images of people without permission and limited public image editing via the Grok X account to paid subscribers, edit buttons are still on every photo posted to X, allowing you to alter them privately. This week, X rolled out an update that allows you to block those private edits, but the option is fairly hidden and must be implemented on a case-by-case basis.

To block Grok from being able to edit your photos, you need to customize permissions before you post the image to X. You can’t do it after the fact. I was also only able to do this on the web; it’s available on iOS, but not Android yet.

I added an image to a post, then clicked the photo to open editing options. From there, I selected the Flag icon, then enabled Block modifications by Grok.

(Credit: PCMag / X)

Delete Your Account

Of course, the most effective thing you can do to stop Grok, xAI, and X from burning down the world is to leave the platform entirely. That could mean deleting your existing posts or closing your account. For more detailed instructions on this, see our dedicated guide.

About Our Expert

Jason Cohen

Senior Editor, Help & How To

---

Experience

As PCMag’s editor of how to content, I have to cover a wide variety of topics and also make our stories accessible to everyday users. Considering my history as a technical writer, copywriter, and all-around freelancer covering baseball, comics, and more at various outlets, I am used to making myself into an expert.

I believe tech corporations are bad, but you might as well know how to use technology in everyday life. Want more how to content delivered right to your inbox? Sign up for the tips and tricks newsletter that I curate twice a week.

My job as how-to guru means I use just about every gadget under the sun, so I can figure out how everything works. I work from a Lenovo ThinkPad running Windows 11, but also have a very large Dell Inspiron 17 3000 and Apple silicon MacBook. I also have a Google Pixel 6a for personal use and use a Galaxy Z Flip 4 for additional Samsung-related testing. For iOS coverage, an iPhone 13 mini works like a charm, though it’s already becoming a little long in the tooth.

My desktop situation includes a dual monitor setup with a modest Acer monitor. I also use a Logitech mouse (who can use these ThinkPad trackpads) and a Havit keyboard (my first mechanical keyboard; I love it but my wife hates it!). I’m a recent convert from wired headphones; I have Anker Soundcore Liberty Air wireless earbuds for personal use and have taken to the Sennheiser HD 450BT headphones for work.

Whenever I have a second to myself, I’m probably gaming on my Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, or Xbox Series S. I also still have a bunch of classic consoles lying around as well.

Read Full Bio