X changes its terms to bar training of AI models using its content

Social network X has changed its developer agreement to prevent third parties from using the platform’s content to train large language models.

In an update on Wednesday, the company added a line under “Reverse Engineering and other Restrictions,” a subsection of restrictions on use: “You shall not and you shall not attempt to (or allow others to) […] use the X API or X Content to fine-tune or train a foundation or frontier model,” it reads.

This change comes after Elon Musk’s AI company xAI acquired X in March — understandably, xAI wouldn’t want to give its competitors free access to the social platform’s data without a sale agreement.

In 2023, X changed its privacy policy to use public data on its site to train AI models. Last October, it made further changes to allow third parties to train their models.

Reddit has also put in place safeguards against AI crawlers, and last month, The Browser Company added a similar clause to its AI-focused browser Dia’s terms of use.