Grok app abuse is 'mild compared to AI girlfriend sites'
An expert says Grok on X has come to attention because of its wide reach but that far worse 'build your own slut' AI apps are being targeted at children. See links below. Picture: iStock
The controversy around Grok and its undressing technology is “mild” compared to the likes of ‘AI girlfriend’ websites, which are being “actively advertised to teens and pre-teens”, an expert has said.
“The threat posed by so-called ‘AI girlfriend’ and ‘AI boyfriend’ websites is far more severe than anything Grok has to offer, particularly for children and young people,” said Eoghan Cleary, a lead researcher on AI child sexual abuse and adult undressing technology.
“These tools are not benign companions; they are hyper-realistic AI sex-simulation technologies capable of generating pornified and sexually violent video content which you are prompted in how to create upon first engagement.”
He said AI ‘nudification’ websites and apps are ‘bombarding’ children across all major social media platforms, “often without any age verification, payment requirement, or even an email address”.
The apps encourage users to upload images of real people “for reference”, creating a direct pathway to non-consensual sexual exploitation, he said.
“This practice is not currently covered by the law, as the image is only being uploaded ‘for reference’.
“So even though the AI creation of the AI girlfriend or boyfriend may be an identical and realistic depiction of the original image provided, it is not technically an intimate image of the real person but instead a depiction of that person.”
He said “an absolutely basic necessity” is a robust age verification mechanism to protect teens and pre-teens from this form of “sexually violent and misogynistic sexual conditioning”.
The education specialist attached to the Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy Institute, said internet users can bypass technical measures introduced last week by X owner Elon Musk restricting access to his AI tool Grok to produce such imagery.
Government ministers have said they are awaiting legal advice from the Attorney General on AI ‘nudification’ technology as to whether additional laws are required to criminalise the generation of such imagery, and not just people who use the technology.
On Sunday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin insisted there are strong laws in place.
“The 1998 (Child Trafficking and Pornography) Act is very comprehensive,” he told RTÉ radio. “Child sex abuse images are a no-go area and there is no future for any platform or app that engages in such activity. We have domestic law, European law.”
He said he has convened a meeting of the Attorney General, Tánaiste Simon Harris, and the justice, communications, and AI ministers “to look at all of the existing laws”.
However, Mr Cleary expressed alarm at the Government’s grasp of the laws in this area.
“It’s deeply concerning,” he said.
“We are meant to be the jurisdiction responsible for regulating X for all of Europe.
"It has been almost three weeks since this issue first came to light and yet with all the legal expertise at the Government’s disposal we are no clearer on which aspects of what has been done are actually illegal, which are not and who is responsible.”
Mr Cleary said that, contrary to media reports, the technology has not just emerged in recent weeks and that he came across the AI ‘nudification’ tools well over a year ago during research he was conducting with second-level students regarding the impact online pornography was having on them.
The difference with Grok, he said, is the mass reach that X has: “Grok is the first platform to provide this capability at scale, effectively mainstreaming an egregious form of digital sexual abuse.”
He said evidence suggested that an estimated 6,700 sexually abusive images were created every hour in the days and weeks this capability was first mainstreamed in this way.
The European Commission is expected to launch a formal investigation into Elon Musk’s X possibly within the next 48 hours.
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