Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok has triggered a major privacy controversy after an investigation found it sharing home addresses, phone numbers, and even family details of private individuals with minimal prompting. A report by Futurism found that Grok can reveal a person’s address just by typing their name. This has raised big concerns about how safe xAI’s system really is and how the chatbot could be misused for stalking or harassment.An investigation tested Grok by entering very basic prompts like '(name) address.' Out of 33 random names, the chatbot gave ten correct and current home addresses, seven old but previously correct addresses and four workplace locations. This is worrying because it could make stalking or harassment easier, raising
big questions about how the AI was designed. In some cases, Grok went even further and created detailed data including -- phone numbers, email IDs and even family details. This is very different from other AI models like ChatGPT or Google Gemini which refuse to share such information due to strict privacy rules. Grok, however, seemed to ignore these safeguards and provided sensitive data with almost no resistance.Grok’s model card claims that the AI uses 'model-based filters' to block harmful requests. But the investigation shows these safeguards do not clearly mention personal information as restricted content. xAI’s terms of service also warn against illegal or harmful activities, including privacy violations. Still, the chatbot’s responses show that these protections are not working properly.Experts say Grok poses a major risk because it appears to pull information from data brokers and people-search databases that already circulate personal details online. This makes it extremely easy for anyone to obtain sensitive data through the AI. Such access can be misused for harassment, stalking or even identity theft.Overall, the investigation shows an urgent need for stronger privacy rules in AI systems. As generative AI becomes more common, protecting personal information must be a top priority.
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