{"id":88900,"date":"2025-08-22T14:25:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T14:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/88900\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T14:25:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T14:25:19","slug":"hundreds-of-thousands-of-grok-chats-exposed-in-google-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/88900\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds of thousands of Grok chats exposed in Google results"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liv McMahon<\/p>\n

Technology reporter<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Hundreds of thousands of user conversations with Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok have been exposed in search engine results – seemingly without users’ knowledge.<\/p>\n

Unique links are created when Grok users press a button to share a transcript of their conversation – but as well as sharing the chat with the intended recipient, the button also appears to have made the chats searchable online.<\/p>\n

A Google search on Thursday revealed it had indexed nearly 300,000 Grok conversations.<\/p>\n

It has led one expert to describe AI chatbots as a “privacy disaster in progress”.<\/p>\n

The BBC has approached X for comment.<\/p>\n

The appearance of Grok chats in search engine results was first reported by tech industry publication Forbes, which counted more than 370,000<\/a> user conversations on Google.<\/p>\n

Among chat transcripts seen by the BBC were examples of Musk’s chatbot being asked to create a secure password, provide meal plans for weight loss and answer detailed questions about medical conditions.<\/p>\n

Some indexed transcripts also showed users’ attempts to test the limits on what Grok would say or do.<\/p>\n

In one example seen by the BBC, the chatbot provided detailed instructions on how to make a Class A drug in a lab.<\/p>\n

It is not the first time that peoples’ conversations with AI chatbots have appeared more widely than they perhaps initially realised when using “share” functions.<\/p>\n

OpenAI recently rowed back an “experiment” which saw ChatGPT conversations appear in search engine results when shared by users.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson told BBC News at the time it had been “testing ways to make it easier to share helpful conversations, while keeping users in control”.<\/p>\n

They said user chats were private by default and users had to explicitly opt-in to sharing them.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Meta faced criticism after shared users conversations with its chatbot Meta AI appeared in a public “discover” feed on its app<\/a>.<\/p>\n

‘Privacy disaster’<\/p>\n

While users’ account details may be anonymised or obscured in shared chatbot transcripts, their prompts may still contain – and risk revealing – personal, sensitive information about someone.<\/p>\n

Experts say this highlights mounting concerns over users’ privacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI chatbots are a privacy disaster in progress,\u201d Prof Luc Rocher, associate professor at the Oxford Internet Institute, told the BBC.<\/p>\n

They said “leaked conversations” from chatbots have divulged user information ranging from full names and location, to sensitive details about their mental health, business operations or relationships.<\/p>\n

“Once leaked online, these conversations will stay there forever,” they added.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Carissa Veliz, associate professor in philosophy at Oxford University’s Institute for Ethics in AI, said users not being told shared chats would appear in search results is “problematic”.<\/p>\n

“Our technology doesn’t even tell us what it’s doing with our data, and that’s a problem,” she said.<\/p>\n

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