Woman pulled out of UK ultramarathon after death threats over Afghanistan fundraising
A woman was pulled out of Britain’s most gruelling ultramarathon after receiving death threats over her fundraising for Afghan women and girls.Sarah Porter was nearly a third of the way through the 108-mile Montane Winter Spine Challenger South endurance race when organisers made the “difficult decision” to withdraw her due to threats to her life in relation to the foundation she runs helping women and girls in war zones.Speaking to the Guardian, Porter said she was disappointed.“My immediate feeling was just one of shame really.”“I was very emotional,” she said, “just born from the perspective that I really felt like I’d let down the girls that I was running for and I’d really kind of got this narrative in my head and psyched myself up that what I was doing was just so insignificant in comparison to what they’re enduring.
”Porter asked the Guardian not to be specific about the details of the death threats, over which police were contacted,She said she had encountered “unhappy people, threats, comments, a lot of hatred as a result of the work that we do” with her InspiredMinds! foundation, which finds humanitarian uses for AI, during a time when “we’re also seeing a huge and very scary regression of women’s rights for the first time in our history”,She added: “So this is not exceptional, we were aware this was a possibility,”A risk assessment with her coach, Jon Shield, as well as security experts and the organisers had been done before the race, in which runners can be alone for many hours along stretches of some of the UK’s most remote moorland,The progress and location of runners can be followed on the race’s website, through a tracking device, and after the risk assessment it was deemed safe for Porter to run.
“I set off on the race, everything seemed fine,” she said.“I then received notification from the Spine Race team that the situation had changed.They disabled my tracking device and when I then got to [the second checkpoint] Standedge, they said they were removing me from the course and that they’d consulted with my security team and everybody felt that that was the best solution.”Porter, an amateur runner, said she had been attracted to the race because it is known as Britain’s most brutal ultramarathon, taking place in mountainous terrain along the Pennine Way, from Edale in Derbyshire to Hawes in North Yorkshire.She said she bore no ill-will to the organisers.
“I can’t do anything but respect them for the way that they dealt with things,” she said.“If anything it’s just made me feel much more determined to carry on and continue doing [future races].”Her GoFundMe page is still open for donations.The organisers of the Montane Spine Race said: “On Saturday the 10th [of January] we made the difficult decision to remove one of our participants from the race following a personal safety threat, we have been working with all the relevant authorities and believe there is no wider threat to other participants on the course.“We understand that this is disappointing for the runner in question, but the safety of all our participants is always our primary concern.
”The full race, the Montane Winter Spine, one of the most elite races in the British calendar, extends a full 268 miles to the Scottish borders.The first runner to cross the line is expected on Wednesday, after a particularly tough start due to freezing temperatures and severe windy weather caused by Storm Goretti.
California attorney general investigates Musk’s Grok AI over lewd fake images
California authorities have announced an investigation into the output of Elon Musk’s Grok.The state’s top attorney said Grok, an AI tool and image generator made by Musk’s company xAI, appears to be making it easy to harass women and girls with deepfake images on X and elsewhere online.“The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking,” California attorney general, Rob Bonta, said in a statement. “I urge xAI to take immediate action to ensure this goes no further.”Bonta’s office is investigating whether and how xAI violated state law
Elon Musk’s stubborn spin on Grok’s sexualized images controversy
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, US tech editor for the Guardian. Today, we discuss Elon Musk’s rosy depiction of Grok’s image generation controversy; the seven-figure panic among Silicon Valley billionaires over a proposed wealth tax in California, though with one notable exception; and how AI and robotics have revitalized the Consumer Electronics Showcase.The firestorm over the Grok AI tool has been raging for more than a week now, and it shows no signs of dying down.Last week, I wrote about the rising backlash against Elon Musk’s Grok AI tool, which in recent weeks has allowed users to generate thousands of sexualized images of women
X ‘acting to comply with UK law’ after outcry over sexualised images
Elon Musk’s X is understood to have told the government it is acting to comply with UK law, after nearly a fortnight of public outcry at the use of its AI tool Grok to manipulate images of women and children by removing their clothes.Keir Starmer told the House of Commons on Wednesday that photographs generated by Grok were “disgusting” and “shameful”, but said he had been informed that X was “acting to ensure full compliance with UK law”.“If so, that is welcome,” the prime minister said. “But we are not going to back down. They must act
Young people, parents and teachers: share your views about Grok AI
Degrading images of real women and children with their clothes digitally removed by Elon Musk’s Grok tool continue to be shared online, despite widespread alarm and a pledge by the platform to suspend users who generate them.While some safeguards have been introduced, the ease with which the AI tool can be abused has raised urgent questions about consent, online safety and the ability of governments worldwide to regulate fast-moving AI technologies. Meanwhile, the misuse of AI to harass, humiliate and sexually exploit people – particularly women and girls – is rapidly escalating.We’d like to hear from young people, parents and teachers about how tools like Grok are affecting you. Are young people aware of how easily these images can be created? If you’re a parent, has this changed how you talk to your children about social media, consent or online safety? If you’re a teacher or work with young people, have you noticed an impact in classrooms or among students? Do you have concerns?You can share your views on Grok and other AI tools using this form
Use of AI to harm women has only just begun, experts warn
“Since discovering Grok AI, regular porn doesn’t do it for me anymore, it just sounds absurd now,” one enthusiast for the Elon Musk-owned AI chatbot wrote on Reddit. Another agreed: “If I want a really specific person, yes.”If those who have been horrified by the distribution of sexualised imagery on Grok hoped that last week’s belated safeguards could put the genie back in the bottle, there are many such posts on Reddit and elsewhere that tell a different story.And while Grok has undoubtedly transformed public understanding of the power of artificial intelligence, it has also pointed to a much wider problem: the growing availability of tools, and means of distribution, that present worldwide regulators with what many view as an impossible task. Even as the UK announces that creating nonconsensual sexual and intimate images will soon be a criminal offence, experts say that the use of AI to harm women has only just begun
Crypto coin firm touted by Eric Adams denies allegations of ‘rug pull’ scam
The cryptocurrency launched by New York City’s former mayor Eric Adams is already in hot water, and now the company behind it is being forced to defend itself from accusations that it scammed people.Investors and cryptocurrency watchers say the asset, dubbed NYC Token, surged to about $580m shortly after it hit the market on Monday and then rapidly plummeted in value. Observers speculated that someone behind the scene may have carried out what’s known in the crypto world as a “rug pull” – when the creators of the asset quickly sell their investments.The company behind the coin has denied any wrongdoing.In a statement posted on X, NYC Token said it was aware of the allegations but rejected claims of a rug pull
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Musk’s X to block Grok AI tool from creating sexualised images of real people
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