This week, the owners of Tesla Cars learned they were getting a giveaway. Starting from July 12th, all new Tesla vehicles have automatically installed and made it available for use with the Grok AI chatbot.
Of course, Grok is a chatbot created by Xai. This is a private AI company launched two years ago by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Like a gas station offering free car washes with fill-up, Musk appears to be leveraging his various assets and business efforts to give customers additional value. But in this case it's fair to wonder who is gaining more value from this “gift.”
With the update, Grok has become a button on the home screen of the Tesla In Car display. Users can ask questions and perform tasks to perform, just like any other LLM, such as Google's Gemini, on Openai's ChatGpt. For now, Grok cannot control vehicle features such as Windows or AC, but it's not difficult to imagine users who use the many useful uses of in-vehicle LLMs, from responding to emails to book summary.
The new arrangement between Tesla and Xai could make Tesla a key customer of Xai, but neither company has revealed the financial details surrounding the partnership. For reference, Tesla sold nearly 1.8 million vehicles last year. This means that this new partnership will open the door for millions of customers to start using GROK. If a small number of new Tesla owners are taking advantage of the feature, this could potentially increase Xai's computing costs. This is reportedly spending around $1 billion a month to build data centers and buy enough computer chips to compete with other AI companies.
However, it is important to consider what kind of data sharing will occur now that GROK is installed on Tesla vehicles. In the disclosure, Tesla states that driver conversations with Grok will be “safely handled by Xai” in line with Xai's privacy policy, and that the conversations will be anonymized and not linked to individual vehicles. Looking at Xai's Privacy Policy, it states that the company has selected to collect personal information, user content, social media information and other data points for its services and share data with contracted service providers, “affiliated companies” and third party customers. But when GROK is used in vehicles, what accurate data does Xai have access to? Elon Musk suggests that a “wakeword” will be added, but will you hear everything you said in the car when it limits the snippets of conversations it captures or activates via the home screen?
A conversation is just a part of the data there. After all, cars have become some of the most powerful data collection devices in everyday life. The vehicle contains multiple computers and sensors, with some estimates showing that it generates around 25 gigabytes of data per hour.
In its own privacy policy, Tesla discloses that it uses vehicle data for its own self-driving AI model, allowing customers to download copies of the data they collect themselves. However, Tesla has not detailed details on what it will be used, and it is unclear how it will use the conversation as it has not updated its privacy policy since the addition of GROK on July 12th.
Tesla and Xai did not respond to requests for comment.
“This is part of the big trends we're seeing in the automotive industry,” said Albert Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Surveillance Project. “Motors are being converted from this independence emblem on public roads to the most monitored parts of our lives. Whether they are monetized by law enforcement, immigrant staff, or simply without our consent, there is a great risk that data collected in our vehicle privacy will be used against us.”
Tesla vehicles have a set of cameras, especially those that collect data from video and camera feeds, ultrasound sensor data, GPS and location information, speed, battery usage, vehicle telemetry data such as odometers, event logs such as collisions and collisions, user interaction data, and data Tesla has provided to find government authority to discover government authority. It is unclear whether the conversation with Grok will also be available for research.
More and more data points are being collected from drivers, especially as vehicles are being installed with more cameras and sensors for their autonomous driving capabilities, says Cahn. “These companies quickly claim that our data is anonymized, but it's really hard to actually anonymize this kind of information in a way that is not re-identified,” he says.
Of course, all new technologies come with a privacy trade-off. GPS gives direction and leaves a digital footprint that reveals your wanderings and where you live. From EVs, autonomous driving technology, LLMS to social media and Starlink internet satellites, Musk appears to be intended to blend and mix the various components of the business empire to give consumers something new and unique. It's up to the consumer to determine whether the trade-offs are worth it.
