Whenever a Grok user clicks the “share” button on a conversation with the chatbot, it creates a unique URL that the user can use to share the conversation via email, text, or on social media. According to Forbes, that also makes the URL indexable by search engines like Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo, which in turn lets anyone look up those conversations on the web.

Grok, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, has exposed hundreds of thousands of private user conversations through Google search indexing. When users click the “share” button to create a URL for sharing their chat, the conversation becomes publicly searchable - often without users realizing it[1][2].

Google has indexed over 370,000 Grok conversations, including sensitive content like medical questions, personal information, and at least one password[2:1]. Unlike OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which quickly removed a similar feature after backlash, Grok’s share function does not include any warning that conversations will become public[3].

According to Forbes, some marketers are already exploiting this feature by intentionally creating Grok conversations to manipulate search engine rankings for their businesses[2:2].

  1. TechCrunch - Thousands of Grok chats are now searchable on Google ↩︎

  2. Forbes - Elon Musk’s xAI Published Hundreds Of Thousands Of Grok Chatbot Conversations ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. Fortune - Thousands of private user conversations with Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot have exposed on Google Search ↩︎

  • Zerush@lemmy.mlOP
    15·
    1 month ago

    Yes, but if you don’t have a big server for an decent LLM, it’s more private, but notmore reliable as the paleolitic MS Clippy. Andi is currently the most reliable and private AI, made by a small startup pissed of the big corporations and the surveillance, the reason why are the first which want to use the AI for searches long before any other, with an own independent LLM, centerd in reliable sources and answers, contrasted in several sources. In change to others it don’t invent nothing, if it find an answer it offers an traditional websearch. All anonym, with random proxie, no logs, no tracking, no ads, no coolies, no limits, no account. Eg. permits to watch YT videos in the search result, without ads, as said, works even as YT front end,which other search engine can do this? Try it, I use it now since more than 3 years and as said, I don’t regret it.