Ireland's Minister Niamh Smyth confirms laws adequate to tackle non-consensual Grok AI images

Minister Smyth says laws adequate to tackle non-consensual Grok AI images

Ahead of a meeting with X today, Minister Niamh Smyth said she is confident that Ireland has adequate legislation in place to tackle the sharing of non-consensual sexualised images. Ahead of her meeting with representatives from X today in Dublin, Minister with special responsibility for Trade Promotion, AI and Digital Transformation, Niamh Smyth said she is confident that Ireland has adequate legislation in place to tackle the proliferation of non-consensual images that have flooded X in recent weeks thanks to Elon Musk's Grok AI. Yesterday Xai released a statement saying it would geoblock the 'nudification' ability in Grok accounts and in Grok in X "in those jurisdictions where it's illegal", sparking much uncertainty as to why the latter clause. "This afternoon I met with the Attorney General to seek clarity on what constitutes illegal content under Irish and EU law and following this meeting I am confident that we have robust and effective legislation in place," she said last night. She pointed to the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998, which says that "material depicting a person as a child engaged in real or simulated explicit activity, or focused for sexual purpose on genital areas, is illegal". "Coco's Law criminalises sharing nonconsensual intimate images with intent to cause harm," she added. "The sharing of nonconsensual intimate images and any child sexual abuse material is illegal." Following a meeting with Coimisiún na Meán on Wednesday, to address the wide concerns about AI-generated harmful content on X, including non-consensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material, Minister Smyth had urged swift, coordinated action with the EU Commission, "including a formal investigation and interim measures to protect citizens across all 27 member states". "The protection of the most vulnerable cannot wait," she said. "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." "If anyone is concerned about images shared online, they should report it to An Garda Síochána," Smyth said who reiterated she will be looking for clarity on yesterday's statement when she meets with X representatives today. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Minister says Ireland has 'robust legislation' in place to deal with AI images | BreakingNews

The Minister with special responsibility for AI, Niamh Smyth, said after meeting the Attorney General that Ireland has "robust and effective legislation in place" to deal with the manipulation of photos. The big tech companies have been invited to attend the Oireachtas media committee on February 4th, and Ms Smyth warned, "it is critically important that they present themselves in front of our legislators". In a statement released on Thursday evening, she said: "On Wednesday, I met with Coimisiún na Meán to address serious concerns about AI-generated harmful content on X, including non-consensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material. "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." She 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. "On Thursday, I met with the Attorney General to seek clarity on what constitutes illegal content under Irish and EU law, and following this meeting, I am confident that we have robust and effective legislation in place. She said under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998, material depicting a person as a child engaged in real or simulated explicit activity, or focused for sexual purposes on genital areas, is illegal. "Coco's Law criminalises sharing non-consensual intimate images with the intent to cause harm. The sharing of non-consensual intimate images and any child sexual abuse material is illegal. "Coimisiún na Meán leads on online safety and platform duties as Ireland's Digital Services Coordinator; An Garda Síochána investigates criminal offences; the Data Protection Commission oversees compliance with GDPR and privacy law; and the European Commission enforces the Digital Services Act," she said. Ms Smyth said if anyone is concerned about images shared online, they should report it to An Garda Síochána, and said " I encourage users to report illegal content to the online platform where they encountered it and to Coimisiún na Meán." She said she will be meeting with X on Friday to discuss the issue further. It comes as earlier on Thursday, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI said late on Wednesday it imposed restrictions on all users of its Grok AI chatbot that limit image editing after the service produced sexualised images that sparked concerns among global regulators. From Europe to Asia, governments and regulators are cracking down on the sexually explicit content generated by Grok, imposing bans and demanding safeguards in a growing global push to curb illegal material. "We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis," the company said in an X post.

Minister welcomes X's 'corrective' action, but says they were breaking the law | BreakingNews

Minister of State with special responsibility for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digitalisation Niamh Smyth has welcomed the "corrective action" taken by social media platform X about Grok AI. Still, she emphasised that "up to now X was breaking the law." There were "robust" laws already in Ireland, she told RTÉ radio's News at One. Ms Smyth said that if anything were to happen again, she would immediately take action. She added that she would be meeting with X officials on Friday. When asked if X had already implemented this corrective action, the Minister said officials in her department had told her that such action had been taken "I met with the Taoiseach, but I am meeting with the AG this afternoon because I want to have the absolute confidence that there are no loopholes here for X or any other platform, because having met with Coimisiún na Meán we had a very in-depth meeting as opposed to the technology that's behind this and how X have come around this and how they've used and developed this app in two different formats. "One as an app on its own, but secondly as an app that they have infiltrated on their X platform, which of course has given them very, very far-reaching traffic to have Grok disseminated as far and as widely as possible "But as I said from the outset, in my mind, we have the online safety media regulation bill. We have Coco's law, we have Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998. "All of those give me the confidence to know that X has been breaking the law up to this point. As I said, I'm glad that it's taken the corrective action that is absolutely required within this jurisdiction. Ms Smyth said she would encourage the chair of the Oireachtas Media Committee, Alan Kelly, to ensure that X officials do appear, with all other platforms, before the committee on February 4th. "They are accountable to the media committee, they're responsible to me, they're responsible to the government. I said, while X and Grok has been the topic of conversation over the last number of weeks, we want to be certain that our children, that our citizens, men and women, are protected while online. And I am certainly striving towards ensuring that that is the case into the future "It is my ambition, when I'm in this department and with this responsibility of AI that we have AI for positive use within the country, within enterprise, within education, and many other industries, but not for anything with nudity apps or the awful stuff that we've seen that is possible with Grok. "That is not what AI is intended for. And the new AI Act, which I am introducing, along with the AI Office, will ensure that high risk harmful content, damaging apps, damaging technology like that, that is of no value to any citizen in our country, young or old, will not be allowed to continue in this country."