‘Grok makes AI child porn’: Why activists brought giant Elon Musk balloon to Times Square
A 40-foot Elon Musk effigy appeared in New York's Times Square ahead of SpaceX's IPO, as protesters sought to draw attention to concerns surrounding Grok's image-generation safeguards and AI safety.
A 40-foot inflatable effigy of Elon Musk towered over New York’s Times Square on Thursday — not in celebration of SpaceX’s blockbuster market debut, but as a protest against concerns surrounding Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Musk-owned xAI.
The protest sought to force investors to confront concerns about AI safety and accountability amid the excitement surrounding what could become the largest IPO in US history.
Black banners surrounding the effigy carried messages including “Grok makes AI child porn” and “SpaceX owns Grok”, drawing the attention of tourists and commuters a day before SpaceX was set to begin trading publicly under the ticker symbol SPCX.
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😖 A giant inflatable Elon Musk popped up in Times Square as part of a protest against Musk’s Grok AI. pic.twitter.com/BdLOB900iC
— TMZ (@TMZ) June 11, 2026
SpaceX, valued at $1.77 trillion, is preparing for what has been described as the largest IPO in US history. Reuters reported that the company priced its shares at $135 apiece, raising an estimated $75 billion and bringing Musk a step closer to becoming the world’s first trillionaire.
The demonstration was organised by Safe AI Now (SAIN), a consulting and training firm founded in 2022. Protesters gathered outside the Nasdaq exchange and the offices of JPMorgan, one of the banks involved in the offering, in an apparent attempt to draw investors’ attention to concerns over AI safety.
At the centre of those concerns is Grok, xAI’s chatbot and image-generation tool. According to WIRED, protesters at the scene declined to speak publicly. However, a representative for SAIN told the publication that investors risked overlooking broader questions of accountability amid the excitement surrounding the IPO.
“It’s really easy to get distracted by the shiny IPO news. And I think that’s what they’re kind of hoping will happen,” the representative told WIRED. “But there’s real harm, real risk. I think if we are normalising it everywhere—from the banks that are underwriting it, to the NASDAQ that’s listing it, to the shareholders who are buying into it—a company that has this really toxic platform in Grok, normalising that type of explicit imagery, there’s a real problem.”
The protest stems from wider concerns over Grok’s image-generation capabilities. According to earlier reporting by WIRED, researchers estimated that Grok’s tools had been used to generate millions of sexualised images, including images depicting apparent minors, after users exploited gaps in the platform’s safeguards to manipulate photographs of real people.
Activists put 40‑ft inflatable topless Elon Musk in Times Square
The balloon shows Musk shirtless with ‘SpaceX’s Grok Makes AI Child Porn’ on his torso and ‘Ketamine’ on a heart tattoo — the work of activist group Safe AI Now pic.twitter.com/2wSSuTeyL9
— RT (@RT_com) June 12, 2026
https://platform.x.com/widgets.js
The demonstration also comes amid increasing scrutiny of the chatbot’s safety measures. Reuters reported this week that Canada’s privacy commissioner found Grok’s image-generation feature had violated federal privacy law after launching without adequate protections against the creation and circulation of non-consensual sexualised deepfakes. The report added that xAI subsequently introduced restrictions on the tool.
Separately, TechCrunch, citing an assessment by Common Sense Media earlier this year, reported that the US-based non-profit had described Grok’s child-safety protections as “among the worst we’ve seen” among mainstream AI chatbots, citing the ease with which younger users could encounter explicit material.
Neither SpaceX nor xAI immediately responded publicly to the Times Square protest.
The protest unfolded against the backdrop of SpaceX’s soaring ambitions and equally high investor expectations. In its IPO filings, the company outlined plans spanning satellite expansion, advances in artificial intelligence and long-term goals tied to human settlement beyond Earth.
For SpaceX, the listing represents another milestone in Musk’s sprawling business empire. But the giant inflatable effigy in Times Square served as a reminder that as AI tools become more powerful — and more pervasive — questions around accountability and safeguards are unlikely to remain on the sidelines for long.
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A 40-foot inflatable effigy of Elon Musk towered over New York’s Times Square on Thursday — not in celebration of SpaceX’s blockbuster market debut, but as a protest against concerns surrounding Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Musk-owned xAI.
The protest sought to force investors to confront concerns about AI safety and accountability amid the excitement surrounding what could become the largest IPO in US history.
Black banners surrounding the effigy carried messages including “Grok makes AI child porn” and “SpaceX owns Grok”, drawing the attention of tourists and commuters a day before SpaceX was set to begin trading publicly under the ticker symbol SPCX.
https://platform.x.com/widgets.js
😖 A giant inflatable Elon Musk popped up in Times Square as part of a protest against Musk’s Grok AI. pic.twitter.com/BdLOB900iC
— TMZ (@TMZ) June 11, 2026
SpaceX, valued at $1.77 trillion, is preparing for what has been described as the largest IPO in US history. Reuters reported that the company priced its shares at $135 apiece, raising an estimated $75 billion and bringing Musk a step closer to becoming the world’s first trillionaire.
The demonstration was organised by Safe AI Now (SAIN), a consulting and training firm founded in 2022. Protesters gathered outside the Nasdaq exchange and the offices of JPMorgan, one of the banks involved in the offering, in an apparent attempt to draw investors’ attention to concerns over AI safety.
At the centre of those concerns is Grok, xAI’s chatbot and image-generation tool. According to WIRED, protesters at the scene declined to speak publicly. However, a representative for SAIN told the publication that investors risked overlooking broader questions of accountability amid the excitement surrounding the IPO.
“It’s really easy to get distracted by the shiny IPO news. And I think that’s what they’re kind of hoping will happen,” the representative told WIRED. “But there’s real harm, real risk. I think if we are normalising it everywhere—from the banks that are underwriting it, to the NASDAQ that’s listing it, to the shareholders who are buying into it—a company that has this really toxic platform in Grok, normalising that type of explicit imagery, there’s a real problem.”
The protest stems from wider concerns over Grok’s image-generation capabilities. According to earlier reporting by WIRED, researchers estimated that Grok’s tools had been used to generate millions of sexualised images, including images depicting apparent minors, after users exploited gaps in the platform’s safeguards to manipulate photographs of real people.
Activists put 40‑ft inflatable topless Elon Musk in Times Square
The balloon shows Musk shirtless with ‘SpaceX’s Grok Makes AI Child Porn’ on his torso and ‘Ketamine’ on a heart tattoo — the work of activist group Safe AI Now pic.twitter.com/2wSSuTeyL9
— RT (@RT_com) June 12, 2026
https://platform.x.com/widgets.js
The demonstration also comes amid increasing scrutiny of the chatbot’s safety measures. Reuters reported this week that Canada’s privacy commissioner found Grok’s image-generation feature had violated federal privacy law after launching without adequate protections against the creation and circulation of non-consensual sexualised deepfakes. The report added that xAI subsequently introduced restrictions on the tool.
Separately, TechCrunch, citing an assessment by Common Sense Media earlier this year, reported that the US-based non-profit had described Grok’s child-safety protections as “among the worst we’ve seen” among mainstream AI chatbots, citing the ease with which younger users could encounter explicit material.
Neither SpaceX nor xAI immediately responded publicly to the Times Square protest.
The protest unfolded against the backdrop of SpaceX’s soaring ambitions and equally high investor expectations. In its IPO filings, the company outlined plans spanning satellite expansion, advances in artificial intelligence and long-term goals tied to human settlement beyond Earth.
For SpaceX, the listing represents another milestone in Musk’s sprawling business empire. But the giant inflatable effigy in Times Square served as a reminder that as AI tools become more powerful — and more pervasive — questions around accountability and safeguards are unlikely to remain on the sidelines for long.
