Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have given a befitting reply to Elon Musk in a powerful new statement. The Sussexes accused the trillionaire’s social media company, X, of failing to prevent “predators preying on women and children.” They also slammed Musk for trying to stop an AI law from passing.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s organization criticizes Elon Musk’s Minnesota lawsuit
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s charitable organization, Archewell Philanthropies, released a statement berating Elon Musk’s recent move related to the Minnesota lawsuit. They supported Minnesota’s decision to ban AI tools that allow users to create fake images without permission. The law passed the Minnesota Senate with a 65-0 unanimous vote (via Express).
Notably, these AI-powered apps generate synthetic intimate images without consent, which can severely ruin a person’s life.
It is described as landmark legislation and “an example of leadership fit for the digital age: a bi-partisan decision to stop technology from enabling predatory behaviour disproportionately targeting women and children.” The Sussexes also criticized “big tech” companies for not doing enough to stop harmful uses of AI tools.
The royal couple particularly called out Musk’s Grok AI. The Sussexes noted that Musk had sued Minnesota to prevent the law from taking effect. Archewell Philanthropies accused X of “mitigating risk to their bottom line instead of aggressively responding to the clear evidence their product features are enabling predators to prey on women and children.”
Notably, the Sussexes have always stood by the fact that online harm to children is a “public health issue.” Markle urged global tech leaders to protect children from the harmful effects of AI and such tools.
“We are seeing new forms of harm emerge faster than our systems are prepared to respond, affecting children at an alarming scale and across borders,” the Duchess said. “But these outcomes are not inevitable, and prevention begins with one simple principle: children must be safe by design, not safe by chance,” she concluded.
