Ireland reviews legal safeguards against AI-generated sexualised images following concerns over Grok

Ireland’s Attorney General is assessing the strength of national laws aimed at tackling artificial intelligence-generated non-consensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material, amid growing concern over sexually explicit images created using Grok, an AI tool integrated into the social media platform X.

The Department of Communications confirmed that senior officials are engaging with the Office of the Attorney General to determine whether the current legal framework is sufficiently robust to protect individuals from digital harms linked to AI-generated imagery. The review follows criticism from Ireland’s media regulator, Rape Crisis Ireland, and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties regarding sexualised images generated through Grok.

Under Irish law, the sharing of non-consensual intimate images and the creation or distribution of child sexual abuse material are criminal offences. Government representatives, including Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris, reiterated that these acts remain illegal regardless of whether the content is produced by humans or generated using AI tools. Harris urged individuals affected by this material to report it to An Garda Síochána.

The Department of Communications noted that the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act regulates harmful effects arising from AI systems, including those used by social media platforms. However, key provisions relating to enforcement and penalties under the Act will not take effect until August. This timing has raised questions about whether existing national laws are adequate in the interim.

Coimisiún na Meán, Ireland’s media regulator, stated that the illegal nature of such content does not depend on how it is created. Its Digital Services Commissioner emphasised that individuals concerned about images involving them should use existing reporting mechanisms, including hotline.ie and law enforcement channels. He also underlined that regulatory oversight of platforms such as X is shared between national authorities and the European Commission, particularly in relation to risk assessment and mitigation under the Digital Services Act.

Failure by platforms to address systemic risks linked to illegal content could expose them to enforcement action and significant fines under EU law. In Ireland, the sharing of non-consensual intimate images is also covered by Coco’s Law, which specifically targets the distribution of intimate images without consent.

Rape Crisis Ireland has called for stronger regulation of image-generating AI tools and has argued that certain functions may need to be restricted or prohibited. The Irish Government has indicated that it will continue to raise concerns with both national regulators and the European Commission as scrutiny of AI-generated content intensifies.