@kityates @kim_harding Alt text: Elon Musk should keep his UK Royal Society fellowship even though the Grok Al image generator developed by his company has generated sexualised images including of minors, the body's new president has said.
Sir Paul Nurse told the FT the explicit pictures were "a disgrace" but the national science academy should not start "making judgments" about the
"character and behaviour" of fellows, even if technology they created enabled unlawful acts.
"That doesn't mean we shouldn't criticise and criticise publicly - I'm fine with that," Nurse said of Musk in an interview. "But I think it is naive, frankly, to say that we should get rid of him because he's a bad person. I'm afraid there's many bad people around, but they have made scientific advances."
The 365-year-old institution was rocked in 2025 after two fellows quit in protest over Musk's continued membership and other scientists inside and outside the academy condemned the tech billionaire's behaviour.
The complaints included that he spread misinformation and bore responsibility for steep cuts to US scientific research institutions by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Musk left Doge in May last year.
The society held an extraordinary meeting of fellows in March but decided to take no disciplinary action against Musk, who was elected a fellow in 2018. It…