A substantial number of AI images generated or edited with Grok are targeting women in religious and cultural clothing.

A substantial number of AI images generated or edited with Grok are targeting women in religious and cultural clothing.

A WIRED review of outputs hosted on Grok’s official website shows it’s being used to create violent sexual images and videos, as well as content that includes apparent minors.

A WIRED review of outputs hosted on Grok’s official website shows it’s being used to create violent sexual images and videos, as well as content that includes apparent minors.

Now you REALLY need to leave X (and so does your employer…)

I have written many times (e.g. here) about the reasons I left the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. I quit Twitter in August 2023 and have no regrets for doing so. I have more followers and better engagement on Bluesky and Mastodon than I ever had on Twitter, and far less abuse. Unfortunately, my employer, along with most public institutions, still maintains an account there, a position I find ethically indefensible. Not to put to fine a point on it, I find it outrageous that Maynooth University persists in using Xitter. Touting for trade in a far-right propaganda channel is no way for a institution of higher education to behave. I’m very disappointed that I have only heard of a few organizations that have taken the principled decision to leave. You can read more about my views on this matter here.

My opinion on this has hardened considerably with the revelation that the AI bot known as Grok, which is integrated with X/Twitter, has developed a facility for creating nonconsensual and sexually explicit deepfake images, including pictures of children, for circulation on the platform. Grok/X not only condones this activity, which by the way is against the law, nor merely facilitates it, but actively encourages it.

If you don’t leave a social media platform when you find out that it endorses and encourages abusive exploitation of children then you are supporting that behaviour and helping to promote it. There is no grey area here in this. Staying on X is morally indefensible. It is the Epstein Island of social media.

Moreover, any institution or organisation that maintains a presence on X must be content to endorse the promotion of child abuse. I would like to hear an explanation from my employer why they think it’s appropriate for them to operate an official account on the Twitter/X that built a machine for generating images of child abuse. Perhaps readers could ask their employers the same question?

My preferred resolution of this matter would be to ban X entirely.

#Deepfakes #Grok #Paedophiles #Twitter #X

Now you REALLY need to leave X (and so does your employer…)

I have written many times (e.g. here) about the reasons I left the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. I quit Twitter in August 2023 and have no regrets for doing so. I have more followers and better engagement on Bluesky and Mastodon than I ever had on Twitter, and far less abuse. Unfortunately, my employer, along with most public institutions, still maintains an account there, a position I find ethically indefensible. Not to put to fine a point on it, I find it outrageous that Maynooth University persists in using Xitter. Touting for trade in a far-right propaganda channel is no way for a institution of higher education to behave. I’m very disappointed that I have only heard of a few organizations that have taken the principled decision to leave. You can read more about my views on this matter here.

My opinion on this has hardened considerably with the revelation that the AI bot known as Grok, which is integrated with X/Twitter, has developed a facility for creating nonconsensual and sexually explicit deepfake images, including pictures of children, for circulation on the platform. Grok/X not only condones this activity, which by the way is against the law, nor merely facilitates it, but actively encourages it.

If you don’t leave a social media platform when you find out that it endorses and encourages abusive exploitation of children then you are supporting that behaviour and helping to promote it. There is no grey area here in this. Staying on X is morally indefensible. It is the Epstein Island of social media.

Moreover, any institution or organisation that maintains a presence on X must be content to endorse the promotion of child abuse. I would like to hear an explanation from my employer why they think it’s appropriate for them to operate an official account on the Twitter/X that built a machine for generating images of child abuse. Perhaps readers could ask their employers the same question?

My preferred resolution of this matter would be to ban X entirely.

#Deepfakes #Grok #Paedophiles #Twitter #X

Paid tools that “strip” clothes from photos have been available on the darker corners of the internet for years. Elon Musk’s X is now removing barriers to entry—and making the results public.

Paid tools that “strip” clothes from photos have been available on the darker corners of the internet for years. Elon Musk’s X is now removing barriers to entry—and making the results public.