Media minister deletes X account amid controversy over Grok and explicit AI content

Patrick O’Donovan says concerns over Grok’s use in generating explicit and abusive images prompted him to deactivate his X account

Patrick O’Donovan faced criticism over comments he made earlier this week, in which he said responsibility for generating explicit images through the AI chatbot lay with users rather than the platform. Picture: Andrew Downes

Communications and media minister Patrick O’Donovan has said he has deactivated his X account following controversy surrounding the social media platform.

Mr O’Donovan said concerns over the use of Grok to generate sexually explicit images and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) prompted him to delete his account.

The highly criticised feature on Elon Musk-owned X has been switched off for the vast majority of users.

“I actually deactivated my X account, so I’m not on X anymore. I deactivated it early this morning,” Mr O’Donovan told Limerick Live 95.

“As minister for communications and minister for media I just felt that if you’re on a platform where this is allowed, regardless of whether you’re paying for it or not, I just don’t feel comfortable with it.

“I just don’t feel comfortable with it, I don’t feel comfortable with the fact that there’s people that are going to use my image, or your image, or somebody else’s image and artificially generate something around it and maybe make it into something that it shouldn’t and publish it.” 

He said the platform was no longer useful for sharing information, adding that this formed part of his decision to deactivate his account.

Mr O’Donovan said he was not asking others to delete their X accounts.

“I’ve made a personal decision to focus my social media to different outlets, which I think is important to communicate with the people, first of all, that vote for me and secondly to the people that I’m held accountable to as a minister.”

AI minister, Niamh Smyth, has also deactivated her X account and confirmed earlier this week that she is seeking a meeting with X over the ongoing controversy.

Grok is designed to carry out multiple functions, including answering questions, summarising complex documents, and generating imagery.

Users have been able to access a new “edit image” tool on Grok since late last month, and X has faced sustained criticism after some users used it to remove clothing from images of real people, including children.

This ability has now been switched off except for those who pay to subscribe to X, who must provide details such as card information when subscribing.

The move comes after Mr O’Donovan faced criticism over comments he made earlier this week, in which he said responsibility for generating explicit images through the AI chatbot lay with users rather than the platform.

“Ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s a choice of a person to make these images,” Mr O’Donovan said at the time.