Global outrage over Grok AI images on X puts Irish and EU regulators under pressure in their first major test

The Grok AI scandal has exposed how slow regulation, platform design choices and weak enforcement collide with devastating consequences

Grok, the AI tool on the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X, last month started to allow requests to take existing photos of women and children and to generate new images of them in bikinis, in sexually suggestive poses, or covered in substances resembling semen. Picture: VINCENT FEURAY/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

Before Christmas, the EU’s tech chief said the European Commission was “holding X responsible for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability” when issuing it a €120m fine for breaching the law.

Also before Christmas, Ireland’s digital services commissioner told the Irish Examiner that the laws in place and the systemic issues it's tackling are all about “tipping the balance back in favour of the user” when dealing with social media sites.