X To Start Collecting Users’ Public Data To Teach Its AI

X (previously Twitter) has just rolled out new privacy policy changes, leaving users and astute observers pondering the implications.

As spotted earlier this week by Bloomberg, the first change to the updated guidelines includes new data points for collection. Users can now expect their biometric data, job history, and education history to be part of the information X gathers. This inevitably raises questions about the intended uses of this information.

Furthermore, public information gathered will also serve as a basis for training its artificial intelligence systems. Alex Ivanovs initially made this observation from Stackdiary, who, as per TechCrunch, is renowned for identifying significant shifts in the policies of tech firms. He pointed out a change in privacy policy section 2.1, which reads as follows:

“We may use the information we collect and publicly available information to help train our machine learning or artificial intelligence models for the purposes outlined in this policy.”

On top of that, owner Elon Musk debuted his xAI entity earlier this year and mentioned that it centered around using “public tweets” to refine AI models.

Musk pretty much confirmed the updates after sending out a response to the X Updates profile, where he clarified that DMs and other private data will not be touched or fed for machine learning.

Just public data, not DMs or anything private

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 31, 2023

TechCrunch also points out that the xAI homepage mentions collaboration with X, Tesla, and other prominent companies. This collaborative effort hints at a dynamic interplay between Musk’s various enterprises, leaving one to wonder about the extent of data sharing and its potential application across multiple platforms.

[via TechCrunch and TechRadar, cover photo 285923746© Mino Surkala | Dreamstime.com]