The American Federation of Teachers is leaving X, citing the platform’s AI chatbot generating sexualised images of children as the final straw.
WASHINGTON: The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is leaving social media platform X, citing the creation of “sickening” AI-generated images of children.
AFT President Randi Weingarten said the site’s degradation since Elon Musk’s 2022 takeover was compounded by X’s AI chatbot, Grok.
“The Grok AI image generator, with no safeguards, was the last straw,” she said. “From tomorrow on, we’re not using Twitter, or X.”
Weingarten said the proliferation of nonconsensual images of women and children generated by Grok made the site unusable.
X has adjusted Grok so its generated images are not posted publicly, but the bot can still digitally strip people of their clothes.
The platform has faced increasing international scrutiny over these hyper-realistic, sexualised AI images.
Weingarten, who joined Twitter 15 years ago, had already scaled back her posting due to propaganda and disinformation on the site.
Her account and the union’s account, with about 100,000 and 75,000 followers respectively, will now go silent.
The AFT represents 1.8 million education workers, making it one of the largest US labour unions.
Weingarten said the union had to prioritise children’s safety over its reach on the platform.
“It’s not an easy decision but it’s the right decision,” she said. “You have to draw a line.”
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the AFT’s announcement.
