US Teacher's Union Leaves X for AI-Generated Child's Picture

AFT President Randi Weingarten (photo: nytimes)

JAKARTA - The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has decided to leave the X social media platform. The emergence of sexually explicit, artificially generated images of children was the final trigger for the decision.

AFT calls the creation of child images produced by AI as something "disgusting". AFT President Randi Weingarten said the platform's decline since being taken over by Elon Musk in 2022 has been exacerbated by the presence of the AI chatbot X, Grok.

"The Grok AI image generator, which has no safeguards, is the end point of our patience," Weingarten said. "Starting tomorrow, we will not use Twitter, or X."

Weingarten said the proliferation of images of women and children produced by Grok without consent had made the platform no longer usable.

X has indeed adjusted Grok so that the resulting images are not posted publicly, but the chatbot can still digitally "undress" a person.

The platform is now facing increasing international scrutiny over the circulation of these hyper-realistic and sexually charged AI images.

Weingarten, who has been with Twitter for 15 years, admitted that he had previously reduced his uploading activity due to the proliferation of propaganda and disinformation on the platform.

Weingarten's personal account, which had around 100,000 followers, as well as the AFT's official account with around 75,000 followers, will no longer be active.

AFT represents about 1.8 million education workers, making it one of the largest labor unions in the United States.

Weingarten stressed that unions should prioritize children's safety over audience reach on the platform.

"This is not an easy decision, but it is the right decision," he said. "We have to draw a line."

As of this writing, X has not responded to a request for comment regarding the AFT's decision.