Elon Musk’s X to Utilize Public Data for AI Model Training

After Bloomberg’s discovery that the social media platform formerly known as Twitter would begin gathering biometric information, as well as job and education data, from its users, the artist has faced significant backlash. A recently published privacy policy reveals that X will utilize this data, along with other personal information it collects, to train AI models, as initially observed by Alex Ivanovs at Stackdiary.

The privacy policy clearly states that the company intends to use the data it collects, as well as publicly available data, to help train machine learning algorithms.

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

Musk has confirmed the change, but notes that only publicly available information will be collected, not “DMs or anything private.” X no longer has a squeeze arm, so there’s no real way to get anyone more specific about what data is being collected and what exactly it’s being used for.

X has no public AI goals, but owner Elon Musk does. He recently founded a company called, wait for it, xAI, which aims to “understand the true nature of the universe,” so perhaps your biometrics and related data will be used to further that lofty and entirely achievable goal. Stackdiary points to text on the xAI homepage that says it is “working closely with X” to “advance our mission.”

There is another option where this information is directed. Musk recently announced his ambitions to compete with Linkedin, stating that the workplace was “rocky” and that a version of X would be “cool.” This would explain the collection of work and education history from its user base.

Finally, there is a third option. X doesn’t exactly collect advertising dollars, so selling user data would be an easy way to earn coins. However, there is no proof of that, except that it is a common social media practice. Previously, Twitter used collected user data primarily for its own benefit, not for third parties.