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LAST UPDATE | 15 Jan
ELON MUSK’S X has said that it will block AI tool Grok from altering images of real people to show them in “revealing clothing” in places where it is illegal, but users have been reporting that nothing has changed.
It comes amid a global backlash over the tool, which is embedded in the social media platform, being used to create non-consensual sexualised images of people, including children.
It emerged yesterday that Gardaí are investigating 200 reports about suspected child sexual abuse material linked to Grok.
Niamh Smyth, the minister of state responsible for AI, said she is meeting with representatives from X at 12pm tomorrow.
Smyth met with the Taoiseach yesterday to discuss the issue, and met the Attorney General at 5pm today for further discussions.
Following the meeting, Smyth said that she is “confident that we have robust and effective legislation in place” to tackle the issue.
“I have urged swift, coordinated action with the EU Commission, including a formal investigation and interim measures to protect citizens across all 27 member states,” Smyth said.
“The protection of the most vulnerable cannot wait. The EU Commission have taken investigative steps in relation to X and its obligations under the DSA, and will now also carefully assess the changes to Grok that X has announced, to ensure they effectively protect citizens in the EU.”
A number of ministers have called for action to be taken over the nudification scandal, including Justice Minister Helen McEntee, who called for the AI tool to be banned.
In a post late last night, X’s safety team said it had imposed restrictions on “editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis”.
“This adds an extra layer of protection by helping to ensure that individuals who attempt to abuse the Grok account to violate the law or our policies can be held accountable,” the platform said.
It added: “We now geoblock the ability of all users to generate images of real people in bikinis, underwear, and similar attire via the Grok account and in Grok in X in those jurisdictions where it’s illegal.”
The restriction will apply to all users in those jurisdictions, including paid subscribers, while image editing and creation will be limited to premium users, the company said.
Questions have been raised about how effective the measures taken by X will be, given that internet users can use a VPN to change their IP address to one from another country.
The X statement also only referred to “the Grok account” and “Grok in X”, without referencing the standalone Grok app which can be used independently of the social media site.
Social media users have been reporting today that they have been able to use Grok on X and there appears to have been no change to how it works.
Dublin Rape Crisis Centres Chief Executive Rachel Morrogh said the steps taken by X over the last 24 hours are a “smokescreen for the harm and sexual violence it continues to harbour and create”.
“Let’s not allow news that X is restricting access to Grok’s sexual abuse features to obscure the criminality that has occurred over the last few weeks, nor that it is continuing its commercial strategy to exploit women and children in other jurisdictions,” she said in a statement released today.
“Let’s also not allow X to dictate what the remedial response to its own criminal actions should be. Limiting access to Grok’s sexual abuse function by geo-blocking will be easily side-stepped by users via widely available virtual private networks (VPNs) and other easily accessible privacy technologies”.
Urging leaders to leave X, Morrogh said the continued presence of many politicians, businesses and Government departments on X gives the platform legitimacy.
“While it is positive that An Garda Síochána are investigating reported breaches, it is notable that so far there have been no consequences imposed by Government or the regulator on the platform, despite laws being broken and the headquarters being located less than 500m from Government buildings,” she added.
X has been contacted and asked for comment.
Labour TD Alan Kelly, who chairs the Oireachtas Media Commitee, said X’s statement was “not worth the paper it’s written on” and that changes to legislation must be put in place to make sure “nothing like this can ever happen again”.
He also said he expects X to attend a meeting of the committee on 4 February, “where we will put a series of questions to them to understand what they are doing to address this into the future”.
Yesterday, Elon Musk claimed that his chatbot would refuse to produce illegal content and appeared to blame “adversarial hacking” for the chatbot’s generation of sexualised images.
With Not Safe For Work (NSFW) settings switched on, he said in an X post that the chatbot is “supposed to allow upper body nudity of imaginary adult humans (not real ones) consistent with what can be seen in R-rated movies on Apple TV”.
“That is the de facto standard in America. This will vary in other regions according to the laws on a country by country basis,” he wrote last night.
Earlier, he had claimed that he was not aware of “any naked underage images generated by Grok”.
“Literally zero,” Musk said, adding that Grok “does not spontaneously generate images, it does so only according to user requests.”
“When asked to generate images, it will refuse to produce anything illegal, as the operating principle for Grok is to obey the laws of any given country or state,” Musk said.
Musk had initially claimed the threats were part of an effort to censor X.
In the UK, media regulator Ofcom has launched an independent investigation into the AI tool.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday repeated his condemnation of Grok as “disgusting” and “shameful”, and said Ofcom had ministers’ full backing to act if X did not.
He said: “To update the House, I have been informed this morning that X is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law. If so, that is welcome, but we’re not going to back down, and they must act.
“We will take the necessary measures. We will strengthen existing laws and prepare for legislation if it needs to go further, and Ofcom will continue its independent investigation.”
A statement from the Prime Minister later added the government was “keeping a close watch on the situation”.
British Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the watchdog would have ministers’ full support to take action against X, including effectively banning the platform in the UK, if the company did not make changes.
Anyone affected by sexual violence including technology-facilitated sexual violence can get free and confidential support on the 24-hour National Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800 77 8888.
With reporting from Press Association and David Mac Redmond
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