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A GAA CLUB in Armagh has issued a warning to its members after a young person was targeted by AI-generated sexual content.
Police are investigating the incident in which someone was allegedly contacted and told to pay money or risk fake sexual images of them being circulated.
It comes as users of Grok, Elon Musk’s AI bot, have been given free rein to modify images through text prompts, resulting in thousands of non-consensual sexual images of people, including children, being generated and posted on X.
While Grok is the latest and most accessible tool with this feature, there are other apps and websites with the same capability.
In a post to Facebook earlier this week, TírnanÓg GAA club in Portadown said one of its members had been victimised by AI image alterations.
“We wish to make our young people and parents aware of a young person who has been targeted in the community,” they wrote.
“Sexual images were sent using AI with the young persons face on an AI body with a black mail threat of sharing the image online if money was not paid.
“The age of AI meant these images were very realistic.”
They said that a list of the victim’s friends on social media was also sent to the young person.
“Thankfully, the young person targeted was very sensible and immediately alerted their parents,” they said.
“Police have been contacted and have asked for local clubs and schools to alert parents and young people.”
Police in Portadown said they received a report of online blackmail on Tuesday, 6 January.
Local Inspector McCullough said: “Our officers recently spoke to young people on the topic of online blackmail, including scammers and spam, advising them to tell their parents or guardians. We take all reports of this nature seriously and investigate them thoroughly.
“Enquiries are ongoing in relation to this recent report and anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting reference number 10 of 06/01/26.”
Alternatively, people can submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via psni.police.uk/makeareport/ or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online.
TírnanÓg issued advice to its young members in the event they’re targeted by something similar.
They advised not interacting with the perpetrator and saving any evidence, such as screenshots, usernames and dates/times.
This should be followed by reporting and blocking the person, and telling a trusted adult or the police.
ChatGPT currently doesn’t allow its users to generate sexual content, although the company is planning to ease such restrictions this year through an “adult mode” option, which it says will include age verification.
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