A giant, shirtless inflatable of SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, laden with anti-Musk messaging, greeted New Yorkers in Times Square ahead of the company’s much-anticipated initial public offering.
The inflatable stood around 40 feet tall, was covered in tattoos, and was surrounded by signs featuring accusations against Grok, Mr. Musk’s artificial intelligence platform.
Tattoos on the inflatable accused Grok of producing AI-generated child sexual abuse material — a reference to research done by the Internet Watch Foundation, a British charity.
“SpaceX’s Grok Makes AI Child Porn,” it says on both the front and back of the naked body as well as on signs surrounding the effigy.
Grok, the AI chatbot used by X, has been used to create nonconsensual sexually explicit images, including of minors, which led to 35 state attorneys general in January calling for the social media platform to take action.
“Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content,” Mr. Musk said that month.
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The advocacy group Safe AI Now said the display was intended as a warning to potential SpaceX investors ahead of the IPO, with trading starting at $150 on Friday and quickly jumping to $160 a share, putting the company’s market cap above $2 trillion.
“The goal of this effigy of Musk is to deliver a simple warning to investors: Musk built a dangerous and exploitative AI, covered up the damage, merged it with SpaceX, and is now selling the liability to the public at $135 a share,” the group said. “SpaceX shareholders are on the hook for every Grok lawsuit, criminal investigation and regulatory fine that is coming. While this inflatable is a fitting metaphor — much like Musk and his companies, it is inflated, full of hot air and could pop at any minute — it serves as a warning to investors eager to buy into Musk’s SpaceX IPO on Friday morning.”
This wasn’t the first time a protest inflatable of Mr. Musk had appeared publicly. A similar sculpture was spotted at several national parks last year in response to Department of Government Efficiency-led cuts to the National Park Service.
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