SOCIAL Democrats leader Holly Cairns has criticised the government response to serious concerns about the AI tool Grok describing it as ‘so muted’ and ‘confusing’.

The Cork South West TD raised the issue about the tool, available on the social media platform X, in the Dáil pointing out it has allowed users to ‘undress’ images of women and children without their consent.

‘Last year new edit features were added to Grok to make it easy to undress people in photographs. Incredibly, no thought was given as to how this tool could be used and weaponised against women and the company didn’t even bother to include age restrictions to prevent child sexual abuse imagery being generated,’ she told the Dáil.

She said this has resulted in up to 6,700 sexually suggestive or notifying images being created every hour by Grok, according to one study.

‘This isn’t just horrifying and shocking, it is illegal under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act. Why has the response from your Government to this scandal been so muted and confusing?’ she asked Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

Micheál Martin said it is a ‘very grave and serious issue’ and he will seek advice from the Attorney General.

Meanwhile the majority of councillors in West Cork canvassed by The Southern Star said they do not use X, formerly Twitter.

Cllr Isobel Towse (SD) said she has never used the platform for work, while she has rarely used her personal account in over two years. Her colleague Cllr Ann Bambury said she has never used the platform and doesn’t intend to, describing it as a ‘cesspit of keyboard warriors’.

Cllr Brendan McCarthy (FG) said that while he has a personal account he rarely if ever posts on it and would never use it in his work as a
councillor.

Cllr Danny Collins (Ind Ire) said he does have an account on X but rarely uses it, while his party colleague Cllr Daniel Sexton said he doesn’t use the platform at all.

Cllr Caroline Cronin (FG) said she does have an account but never really uses it.

‘I’ve always found X/Twitter to be quite toxic and I much prefer using Facebook and Instagram,’ she said.

Her party colleague, Cllr Marie O’Sullivan, said she was never an avid ‘tweeter’ and had moved away from it, while Cllr John Michael Foley said he doesn’t use X.

Independent Councillor Alan Coleman said he hasn’t used X in years and described it as ‘very negative’ preferring to use Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, while Cllr Finbarr Harrington (Ind) said he rarely uses it.

Cllr Gillian Coughlan (FF) said she never used X, while her newly co-opted colleague George Gill said he closed down his account after Twitter was bought by Elon Musk and renamed X. Cllr Deirdre Kelly said she does have an account but rarely uses it.