4 minGrok in your Tesla and your privacy: who processes your conversations, and which cars qualify
Grok conversations in a Tesla are handled by SpaceX's AI division, not by Tesla. Here is what Tesla says about anonymity, location and contacts, and which cars and connections you need.
Since July 2025, Grok has been the talking assistant in new Teslas, and it has since rolled out to many more countries. Many owners use it without asking a basic question: who actually hears what you say to it? The answer has become more interesting in 2026, now that the company behind Grok is part of SpaceX. Here is what Tesla's own support page says, and what it leaves open.
Who processes your conversations
Tesla does not run Grok itself. According to Tesla's support page, your interactions are processed by SpaceXSI, the name SpaceX now uses for its AI business, under that company's own privacy policy. When Grok first arrived in cars, the same role was filled by xAI, which SpaceX took over in February 2026.
Tesla makes a few specific promises:
- Anonymous to Tesla: Tesla says conversations are anonymous to Tesla and are not linked to you or your vehicle.
- Contacts stay in the car: to make calls, Grok can read the phone contacts stored in the vehicle, but Tesla says those contacts are not sent to SpaceXSI.
- Location is opt-in: unless you switch on 'Share precise location', Grok only sees your approximate location.
- Linked services: if you sign in and connect services such as email or a calendar through Connectors, the information from those services is processed by SpaceXSI. You can remove a Connector at any time.
What Tesla does not say
The support page is short, and some important details are missing. It does not say how long conversations are kept, how you can delete them, or whether they may be used to train future AI models. For those answers you have to read the privacy policy of SpaceX's AI division, which is a separate document from Tesla's.
Privacy advocates raised the same point when Grok first appeared in cars. In July 2025, Fortune noted that xAI's privacy policy allowed sharing with service providers, related companies and third parties, and that it was unclear how conversations might be used. One privacy campaigner quoted by Fortune warned that companies are quick to call data 'anonymized'. Neither Tesla nor xAI responded to Fortune's questions at the time.
Which cars get Grok
- Processor: your car needs an AMD infotainment computer. Teslas with the older Intel processor are not supported. You can check under Controls > Software > Additional Vehicle Information.
- Software: version 2025.26 or later for Grok itself, and 2026.26 or later for Connectors and Grok Bot.
- Connection: Grok runs in the cloud, so it needs Premium Connectivity or a stable Wi-Fi connection. Without one, it does not work.
- Account: a Grok account is not needed for basic use. Connectors require you to sign in, and Grok Bot, which can carry out multistep tasks such as booking a table, requires a paid SuperGrok subscription. Tesla says these rules may change.
Settings worth checking
You turn Grok's voice activation on under Controls > Audio > Grok Settings. You can also pick a voice and a personality, ranging from 'Storyteller' to 'Unhinged'. The choice changes how Grok talks, not what it can do, and navigation requests need the standard assistant personality. If you share the car with children or colleagues, the personality setting is worth a look before you set off.
A practical tip: if you want Grok to help with navigation but do not want to share your exact position, leave precise location switched off. You will get slightly less accurate suggestions, but less data leaves the car.
Why it matters for Tesla
Grok is one of the clearest examples of how Tesla relies on another Musk company. Tesla decides which Grok features appear in its software, but the processing, the models and the privacy terms belong to SpaceX. Tesla and SpaceX are now studying a possible merger through special committees. If that ever happens, the split between 'Tesla data' and 'SpaceX data' that the support page draws today could look very different.
What to watch
Keep an eye on Tesla's support page and the SpaceX AI privacy policy after major software updates. As Grok gets more access to your email, calendar and car functions, the details of who sees what become more important, not less.
