X’s secret AI policy change is a disaster for artists

On October 17, 2024, X announced a whole slew of unfortunate policy changes. The site, formerly known as Twitter, and currently still called that by most people, X’s headlining change was to how blocking works on the site. But there was another change announced that initially didn’t get as much fanfare but is almost just as awful—especially for those in the arts posting their work on the platform.

Starting on November 15, 2024, Twitter / X is changing its privacy policy so that users’ data can be used to train not only Grok, its in-house AI, but third-party AI models as well. This means not only people’s pithy jokes and various complaints, but any fan art, animation reels, videos, music, and more that you’ve posted on Twitter can also be shared with third-party AI developers.

Obviously, that sucks.

What’s the change, exactly?

Here is the exact verbiage of Twitter / X’s announcement of the new AI policy:

Depending on your settings, or if you decide to share your data, we may share or disclose your information with third parties. If you do not opt out, in some instances the recipients of the information may use it for their own independent purposes in addition to those stated in X’s Privacy Policy, including, for example, to train their artificial intelligence models, whether generative or otherwise.

Ever since AI-generated art arrived, artists have tried to fight back. Creatives argue that the influence of their work is clearly visible in AI works, that the training occurred without their consent, and at the very least they should be compensated for what essentially amounts to the theft of their work.

Fields other than fine art have slowly come to be affected as well. AI music is unfortunately becoming a thing. Making AI copies of actors and their voices was a central concern in last year’s general SAG-AFTRA strikes and this year’s video game actor strike.

The principle is simple: one, artists want to keep being able to make a living, and two, they don’t want their likenesses to be used without their consent or knowledge. Pretty easy to understand, right?

That’s why the Twitter / X privacy changes are concerning. There’s no stipulation as to what kind of data will be shared, so it stands to reason that artists’ works are also on the menu. On the contrary, Twitter / X changed their terms of service to grant themselves “a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense” to use, copy … upload, download” any content you publish on their website.

Fortunately, we’ve learned a bit more about how to protect ourselves in the last couple of years. You could simply stop using Twitter / X and move to Bluesky like 500,000 people did yesterday. Bluesky appears to have no such policy allowing its users’ data to be trained for AI, but it’s definitely something to stay vigilant about.

But if you want to stay on Twitter, it’s worth taking a deep look at your privacy settings.

Can I opt out?

The verbiage in Twitter / X’s new terms starts with “depending on your settings,” which legally makes it seem like you’re about to opt out of this new feature. However, as multiple outlets have called out, there’s currently no clear option for users to opt out of data sharing in X’s settings. Since the new policy doesn’t go into effect until November, X might add a new sub-menu to their settings when it goes into effect. It’s possible, but not guaranteed.

For now, the best I could find is by going to the “Settings and Privacy” page by selecting the “More” button at the bottom of Twitter’s left-hand bar, then selecting “Privacy and Safety.” From there, if you scroll down all the way on the right-hand side of the screen, there’s a section called “Data sharing with business partners.” Uncheck the hell out of that box. It allows Twitter to “share additional information” about you with their business partners.

While you’re at it, you can also scroll down to the “Grok” sub-section and uncheck the box that allows your data to be fed to Twitter’s in-house AI.

Hopefully, this all helps protect your data. After all, Twitter also changed their settings to allow themselves to keep “different types of information for different periods of time,” even if you cancel your account. Otherwise, see you on Bluesky.