Schools to receive updated social media guidance amid Grok scandal

Education minister Hildegarde Naughton has instructed her department to examine social media guidance provided to schools in the wake of the Grok AI 'nudification' controversy. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Education minister Hildegarde Naughton has instructed her department to review guidance for schools on social media following concerns about Elon Musk’s X and its chatbot Grok producing explicit images of children.

Ms Naughton has directed officials to consider “emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence [AI] editing tools” as part of any new guidelines that may be issued.

X has faced sustained criticism as its AI chatbot Grok unveiled a feature that allowed users to edit images.

In some instances, the technology is being used to undress or ‘nudify’ children and women. It is a criminal offence to produce and share child sex abuse images.

Grok turned off the image generation feature late last week for some users, but left it on for those who pay a subscription fee to X.

A spokesperson for Ms Naughton told the Irish Examiner that guidance for schools on their social media usage will now be examined following the fallout over Grok.

They said: “In light of concerns raised in recent days around image editing functions, specifically those available by the AI editing tool Grok, the minister for education and youth, Hildegarde Naughton, has directed her department to initiate a review of guidance provided to schools on the use of social media to ensure it takes into account emerging technologies such as AI editing tools.

“Webwise, funded by the Department of Education and Youth, helps teachers integrate digital citizenship and online safety into teaching and learning in their schools. [Last week] Webwise updated guidance for schools on apps.

“There are a number of tools and supports available to schools and the wider school community on the use of social media, as well as oversight bodies to ensure the safety and protection of pupils, including Webwise, Coimisiún na Meán, the Data Protection Commission [DPC], and Children First.”

Illegal images

The spokesperson added that sharing non-consensual intimate images and the generation of child sexual abuse material are illegal.

They said: “If a member of the public is concerned about images shared online, they should report it to An Garda Síochána. Reports can also be made to the Irish national reporting centre, Hotline.ie.”

Information provided to schools by Webwise last week stated that 13% of children had already encountered a nude deepfake, something they stated is “creating fear and anxiety amongst children”.

They advised parents and schools to be “cautious” in discussing the ‘nudify’ controversy with children, urging them to “avoid naming any potential platforms to avoid inadvertently promoting or directing students to platforms”.

Ms Naughton’s spokesperson stated that the DPC published a “data protection toolkit for schools” in late 2024, which “includes specific guidance about photographs of pupils and is available on the DPC’s website”.

However, Fine Gael TD Keira Keogh, chairperson of the Oireachtas children’s committee, noted that the guidance advised that a link for further detail linked out to a 2019 blog called 'Taking photos at school events — Where common sense comes into play'.

Ms Keogh told the Irish Examiner that things have changed drastically since 2019 and the Grok controversy underpins the need to update advice.

“If you think back to 2019, you couldn’t upload a picture of kids in the sports field playing Gaelic and then ask it to nudify them. It has come on a long way,” she said.

“I would like a review of all the guidelines for schools and community groups. It’s moving so fast at the moment, it’s frightening.”