X is the latest social media site letting 3rd parties use your data to train AI models

Elon Musk's X was already using your data to train its own artificial intelligence. Soon, it'll let other companies do the same.

Starting Nov. 15, the social media site formerly known as Twitter will share user data — including posts, likes, bookmarks and reposts — with third-party platforms that may use the information to train AI models.

The company updated its privacy policy on Wednesday to detail the changes. When the policy takes effect, users are automatically opted in until they opt out.

"Depending on your settings, or if you decide to share your data, we may share or disclose your information with third parties," the updated policy reads. 

"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."

As user data becomes an increasingly valuable resource, social media platforms are sitting on a goldmine —and selling that information to artificial intelligence companies is a lucrative business.

"This is the latest arms race. Everyone is working towards AI supremacy," said Ritesh Kotak, a cybersecurity and technology analyst based in Toronto.

"The more data sets you have, the more people that are involved in that data is collected from, the more accurate your model is going to be."

The change comes just a few months after X quietly shifted its privacy policy, giving itself permission to train the company's Grok chatbot on user data.

But that led to an investigation by the European Union's privacy regulator, which ended with X agreeing to stop collecting user data from that region for the purpose of training Grok.

LinkedIn has also given itself permission to train its artificial intelligence models on user data, and Meta used public Instagram and Facebook posts to train its own AI virtual assistant.

Like X, other social platforms have reportedly signed content licensing deals with AI giants, bringing in a new stream of revenue amid tough competition for advertising dollars, noted Ajay Shrestha, a computer science professor at Vancouver Island University.

"The traditional processes that they have used [to] generate revenue, through advertising or through subscription methods, are not working well," said Shrestha.

The deals include: