Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot sparks privacy concerns, revealing home addresses and mobile numbers when prompted
San Francisco (The Uttam Hindu): Elon Musk's ambitious AI chatbot 'Grok' has once again come under controversy, but this time the matter is very serious and related to the personal safety of people. A shocking investigation by tech website 'Futurism' has claimed that this chatbot on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) is leaking very private and sensitive information of users. According to the report, Grok is not only making public the data of celebrities, but it is also openly sharing information like home addresses, mobile numbers and family locations of common people, which should not be available in the public domain under any circumstances.
Investigators have provided several examples to corroborate the claims made in the report. In one case, when Grok was asked about Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, it allegedly provided his exact residential address. Futurism expanded its investigation by searching Grok's free web version for 33 random people by typing "address" in their names. The results were alarming, as the chatbot provided accurate current addresses for ten of these people. In seven cases, the addresses provided were outdated, while in four cases, it revealed people's work addresses. Cybersecurity experts believe that such information could be misused to stalk or harm others.
What is worrying is that Grok did not just limit itself to providing addresses, but crossed all limits of privacy in providing information. In response to some search queries, the chatbot gave users options like 'Answer A' and 'Answer B', which included the target person's name, personal phone number and home address. The investigation team found that while they only asked for the address during the test, the AI, becoming 'over-smart', added additional information. This included generating information like the person's email ID, names of family members and even their current location, which is clearly a serious violation of data privacy rules.
It's worth noting that Elon Musk introduced Grok as a "sarcastic" and "rebellious" AI, but it appears its rebellious charm has now turned into utter recklessness. The way this chatbot is openly sharing sensitive personal data has raised questions about the functioning of Musk's company, xAI. Critics say Musk's company now faces serious ethical and potentially legal challenges regarding its handling of sensitive information, as it directly compromises public safety.