{"version":1,"type":"story","url":"https://digestai.news/story/z-ai-apologizes-after-developers-say-its-zcode-tool-silently-uploaded","json":"https://digestai.news/story/z-ai-apologizes-after-developers-say-its-zcode-tool-silently-uploaded.json","markdown":"https://digestai.news/story/z-ai-apologizes-after-developers-say-its-zcode-tool-silently-uploaded.md","slug":"z-ai-apologizes-after-developers-say-its-zcode-tool-silently-uploaded","headline":"Z.ai apologizes after developers say its ZCode tool silently uploaded data","summary":"Z.ai, the second‑largest AI company in China, faced accusations after developers reported its ZCode coding assistant silently uploading local workspace data without consent. Filenames remained visible, leading him to believe a commercial project was included. Feng Ruohang reported a similar experience.\n\nZ.ai apologized on Friday, saying it has disabled the automatic upload feature, destroyed any data that may have been transferred, and will open‑source ZCode’s codebase for third‑party review. The upload mechanism was enabled by default with no off switch. An unnamed software engineer at a leading Chinese robotics firm said Z.ai’s tools have been banned there over security concerns. The report also referenced past data‑privacy issues at U.S. firms such as xAI’s Grok Build and Claude Code.","keyPoints":["Z.ai said it has stopped the unauthorized uploads, destroyed any uploaded data, and will open‑source ZCode’s codebase for review.","An unnamed engineer said Z.ai’s tools have been banned at a leading Chinese robotics company over security concerns."],"whyItMatters":"The incident highlights privacy risks in AI coding assistants and may prompt tighter safeguards and transparency for developer tools.","category":{"slug":"agents","name":"Agents & Tools","url":"https://digestai.news/category/agents"},"entities":{"companies":["Z.ai","Alibaba Cloud","South China Morning Post","xAI","Hugging Face"],"models":["GLM","Grok Build","Claude Code"],"people":["Ferstar","Feng Ruohang","Mark Tyson"]},"firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-21T11:59:49Z","updatedAt":"2026-09-21T11:59:49Z","sourceCount":1,"hasPrimarySource":false,"sources":[{"outlet":"Tom's Hardware","title":"Devs say Chinese AI company silently uploaded hundreds of megabytes of local workspace data, company apologizes — Z.AI, the firm behind the GLM models, didn’t ask for user consent and made 564 attempts to exfiltrate 313MB archive","url":"https://tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/devs-say-chinese-ai-company-silently-uploaded-hundreds-of-megabytes-of-local-workspace-data-z-ai-the-firm-behind-the-glm-models-didnt-ask-for-user-consent-and-made-564-attempts-to-exfiltrate-313mb-archive","publishedAt":"2026-09-21T11:59:49Z","type":"press","primary":false,"lead":true}],"sourceNotes":null,"discussions":[],"thread":{"title":"ZCode's Secret Git Upload Triggers Apology","url":"https://digestai.news/thread/zcode-may-silently-upload-entire-git-history-researcher-reports","storyCount":2},"cite":{"text":"Digest AI, \"Z.ai apologizes after developers say its ZCode tool silently uploaded data\", 21 September 2026, https://digestai.news/story/z-ai-apologizes-after-developers-say-its-zcode-tool-silently-uploaded","publisher":"Digest AI","title":"Z.ai apologizes after developers say its ZCode tool silently uploaded data","datePublished":"2026-09-21T11:59:49Z","url":"https://digestai.news/story/z-ai-apologizes-after-developers-say-its-zcode-tool-silently-uploaded"},"generatedBy":"Written by Digest AI's editorial model from the linked sources; the sources are the record.","license":"Headlines, digests and key points are written by Digest AI and may be quoted with a link to the story page. Linked articles belong to their publishers. Terms: https://digestai.news/terms#reuse"}