Giant inflatable Elon Musk appears in Times Square ahead of SpaceX IPO

Giant inflatable Elon Musk appears in Times Square ahead of SpaceX IPO The inflatable was stamped with a message claiming that ‘SpaceX’s Grok makes AI child porn’ - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments A giant inflatable Elon Musk effigy has appeared in Times Square ahead of SpaceX’s market flotation. The 40-foot-tall shirtless torso and banners surrounding it feature several accusations about the Grok artificial intelligence tool, including “SpaceX’s Grok makes AI child porn.” The accusation comes after critics and online safety organizations alleged that the A.I. tool was used to produce sexual images, which included children. X - which is also owned by Musk - has previously said that it takes action against illegal content on the platform by removing it, suspending accounts and working with law enforcement. SpaceX is slated to make its widely anticipated stock market debut in the U.S Friday and break records for a company’s first stock offering. The huge inflatable was flanked by activists, who, according to Wired, would not speak to members of the media. When CBS News Reporter Jared Ochacher went to the site to investigate the installation, he managed to speak to some of the activists surrounding it. “I asked the people working here questions like, ‘Who hired you?’ and ‘Is it a company or a person behind this?’ but they wouldn’t say anything,” Ochacher said in a video on X. “They told me they’ve been directed to stand here for the day and hand out flyers like these with similar talking points as the signs, and a QR code that takes you to Grok’s website.” Grok, an artificial intelligence tool owned by Musk’s xAI, has been at the center of a storm of controversy in recent months. In January, the U.K.-based Internet Watch Foundation’s Head of Hotline Ngaire Alexander wrote on X that the organization’s analysts had “discovered criminal imagery of children aged between 11 and 13 which appears to have been created using the tool.” “The imagery we have seen so far is not on X itself, but a dark web forum where users claim they have used Grok Imagine to create the imagery, which includes sexualized and topless imagery of girls,” Alexander wrote. An analysis by the Center for Countering Digital Hate claimed that Grok flooded the social media site X with over three million “sexualized images.” Around 23,000 of the images allegedly contained children. “We remain committed to making X a safe platform for everyone and continue to have zero tolerance for any forms of child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity, and unwanted sexual content,” a statement shared by X’s Safety account read in January. The statement also said that the firm took action to remove child sex abuse material and to report accounts seeking the materials to law enforcement when necessary. “We have implemented technological measures to prevent the [@]Grok account on X globally from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis,” the statement continued. Grok’s owner, xAI, is itself owned by SpaceX. According to The New York Times, SpaceX’s offering set a valuation of $1.77 trillion. John Belton, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, said the best comparison one could make to SpaceX is the electric vehicle company, Tesla, which is also owned by Musk. According to Belton, each firm has an established business and “a moonshot opportunity on the other side.” “For Tesla, that's things like humanoid robotics and other future applications. For SpaceX, it's the AI business," he said. The Independent has contacted SpaceX and xAI for comment. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments