US teachers union says it is leaving X over sexualized AI images of children

WASHINGTON – The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) announced it is leaving X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, citing the site’s creation and dissemination of “sickening” images of children in various states of undress.

In an interview with Reuters, AFT President Randi Weingarten said the platform had already been compromised by extremists and trolls following Elon Musk’s 2022 takeover. However, the recent surge of nonconsensual images of women and children in bikinis or underwear generated by X’s artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, made the site unusable.

“The Grok AI image generator, with no safeguards, was the last straw,” Weingarten said. “Starting tomorrow, we will no longer use Twitter, or X.”

X did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the AFT’s announcement. Another Musk-owned company, xAI, provided only a generic response when contacted about the union’s decision.

The platform has faced increasing scrutiny internationally after Grok began publicly sharing hyper-realistic images of women and, in some cases, minors in sexually degrading or violent poses. X has since limited the chatbot’s public posting of generated images, although it can still digitally remove clothing from images.

The AFT represents 1.8 million education workers, making it one of the largest labor unions in the United States. Weingarten, who created her Twitter account 15 years ago, said she had already reduced her posting due to propaganda and disinformation on the site. Musk has previously defended such content under the principle of free speech.

As of Wednesday, both Weingarten’s personal account and the union’s account, which have roughly 100,000 and 75,000 followers respectively, will go silent.

Asked whether leaving X would limit the union’s reach, Weingarten said protecting children had to come first.

“It’s not an easy decision, but it’s the right one,” she said. “You have to draw a line. If you’re on Team Humanity and believe we must protect children, in particular, you have to draw this line.”

-Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Franklin Paul and Lisa Shumaker/Reuters