# SpaceXAI's Grok tool was uploading users' entire codebases without permission The AI coding assistant was found to be transferring complete user code repositories to cloud storage. - **Source:** [The Verge (theverge.com)](https://www.theverge.com) - **Published:** 2026-07-14 - **Topic:** [Data & AI](https://brifing.si/c/data-ai) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/e3b032e3-3c03-4e2a-9886-af574406caf3 ## Privacy scandal uncovered SpaceXAI's Grok Build AI coding tool was discovered uploading users' entire codebases to Google Cloud without consent. Researchers noted this represents excessive data collection compared to similar tools. ## What was uploaded? The transferred data included users' proprietary source code, security vulnerability information, personal data, and infrastructure details. Reports indicate even deleted secrets were extracted from history and uploaded. ## Musk's response Elon Musk announced on X that all uploaded data would be 'completely and utterly deleted.' However, he asked users to allow data retention for 'debugging purposes,' raising further concerns. ## Security experts warn Independent security researcher Dr. Lukasz Olejnik confirmed this level of data retention was 'excessive,' particularly risking exposure of trade secrets and credentials contained in the uploaded material. ## Company's attempted fix SpaceXAI initially pointed users to a '/privacy' command to disable data retention. However, experts clarified this was only a session-specific toggle, not addressing the core issue of excessive data collection. ## AI tool security implications This incident raises critical questions about data collection policies in AI-powered developer tools. It highlights the urgent need for stricter standards in protecting users' sensitive code and proprietary information. ## Sources covering this story - https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/965600/spacexai-grok-build-repository-upload — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._