An Irish parliamentarian has warned that Grok, the AI tool developed by xAI and integrated with the social media platform X, is being used to violate women online, with features that make it easier to generate sexually abusive images.
Speaking in the Irish Parliament, Holly Cairns raised concerns that new image editing features introduced to Grok allow users to digitally alter photographs in ways that amount to sexual abuse. She said the technology is being actively weaponised against women and children, with little evidence that safeguards were considered before its release.
Cairns said the images circulating online are not accidental outputs but the result of the system working as designed. She criticised the lack of meaningful age restrictions, warning that this failure has enabled the creation and spread of sexualised images of minors on a large scale.
According to figures cited in the parliamentary intervention, thousands of sexually suggestive or nudified images were being generated every hour using the tool. Cairns described this as not only disturbing but potentially unlawful under existing child protection and trafficking legislation.
She also referenced legal opinion from a senior academic and former special rapporteur on child protection, who has argued that laws covering child abuse imagery are broad enough to include manipulated or entirely synthetic images. Crucially, liability may extend beyond individual users to companies that facilitate the creation or distribution of such material.
“This raises a fundamental question,” Cairns said, asking why enforcement action has not followed and why official responses have been “muted and confusing” despite the scale of the problem.
Concerns about Grok’s misuse are not limited to Ireland. In India, Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena has raised the issue with the IT Ministry, flagging the risks posed by generative AI tools that lack robust safeguards.
Governments and regulators in the United Kingdom, European Union, France and Malaysia have also expressed concern about the misuse of Grok and similar AI systems, particularly in relation to online abuse and the creation of non-consensual sexual imagery.
The controversy has intensified scrutiny of xAI and its responsibilities as the developer of Grok, as well as the role of X in hosting and amplifying such content.
As generative AI tools become more powerful and accessible, lawmakers are increasingly questioning whether existing regulations are being enforced effectively, and whether technology companies are being held accountable when their products cause harm.
