Summary:
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New Yorkers woke up to a giant inflatable Elon Musk in Times Square before SpaceX’s IPO.
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The effigy accuses SpaceX’s AI of child porn, drawing global attention and regulatory pressure.
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SAIN group staged the display as a warning to investors about Musk’s alleged cover-up and liability.
New Yorkers woke up to an unusual sight in Times Square on Thursday morning, where a giant inflatable bust of a shirtless, smiling Elon Musk appeared overnight, just one day before SpaceX’s initial public offering, which is set to be the biggest in history.
The effigy carries a blunt accusation in the form of a giant tattoo across its torso and back, reading “SpaceX’s Grok makes AI child porn.”
The message references accusations that Grok, the xAI chatbot acquired by SpaceX earlier this year, produced sexual images of children. The controversy has drawn intervention attempts from governments around the world, adding regulatory pressure at a critical moment for the company.
The group behind the stunt, SAIN, framed the display as a message to Wall Street rather than a simple publicity grab. In a statement, the group said the effigy was meant to warn investors that Musk “built a dangerous and exploitative AI, covered up the damage, merged it with SpaceX, and is now selling the liability to the public at $135 a share.” The group added that SpaceX shareholders would be on the hook for Grok-related lawsuits, investigations and regulatory fines, and called the inflatable a fitting metaphor for being “inflated, full of hot air” and liable to pop at any minute.
Musk has previously pushed back on the allegations. In January, he said that anyone using Grok to make illegal content would face the same consequences as anyone uploading illegal content. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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The timing lands squarely on the eve of a market debut already under scrutiny. Musk reportedly required banks, law firms, and auditors competing for roles on the IPO to purchase Grok subscriptions, an arrangement confirmed to The New York Times by four people with knowledge of the deals. Whether the balloon changes any investor minds remains to be seen, but it guaranteed Grok’s troubles were the talk of Times Square less than 24 hours before the opening bell.
