Protest outside X offices in Dublin over AI deepfakes

Ottoline Spearman

Around 20 people attended a protest outside X’s Dublin offices, calling for action over the use of the AI tool Grok to generate sexually-explicit images.

Demonstrators, led by People Before Profit, called for stronger laws to prevent image-based sexual abuse.

On Friday, X said it was disabling the feature in response to widespread backlash.

Former TD Bríd Smith was among those protesting. Speaking on Newstalk, she said: "It's not just a bit of a joke and a bit of a laugh. It has serious consequences, often in the form of people taking their own lives.

"The idea that an artificial intelligence apparatus can undress me or you, indeed, or your children and put different clothes on you or show naked forms of you and share that around on social media is just outrageous."

A former content moderator on the Twitter platform, before it became X, said on Newstalk: "I find it very hard to believe that Elon Musk has the same intention as the previous CEO."

The former employee, who gave her name as Rosanna, said there had been “a drastic shrinking of moderation teams and loosening of safety policies” since Twitter had become X, according to the Irish Times.

She said that across social media, "we are witnessing the deliberate release of AI features that undermine this principle of safety", with this done “all in the name of free speech”.

“Thousands of sexualised deepfakes of women and children are generated with a single click,” she said.

Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit TD, called for gardaí to investigate X.

This comes after the revelation that gardaí are investigating 200 reports of child abuse material on Grok.

On Friday, AI Minister Niamh Smyth met with X representatives, with a series of meetings involving the Government, gardaí and regulators to take place in the next few days to establish what legal action can be taken.