134. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he has had engagement with an organisation (details supplied) in relation to the use of AI to generate harmful and illegal content on the platform, the dissemination of same on the platform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3728/26]

Sentiment score: -0.04

In recent weeks we have seen extremely troubling reports about the misuse of Grok, the AI tool developed by xAI and integrated into the X platform. This tool has enabled users to generate sexualised images of real people, including children. What engagement has the Minister had with this organisation in relation to the use of AI to generate harmful and illegal content on that platform over the past number of weeks?

Sentiment score: -0.22

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive response. I echo his sentiment. I and other members of the media committee feel the behaviour that has occurred in recent weeks is illegal and harmful and we cannot tolerate it. Can the Minister outline any direct interaction he has had with X? Has he had such interaction with it or does he intend to do so? One thing I picked up from the witnesses who appeared before the media committee last week is that there is probably plenty of legislation in place but that the necessary resources are lacking in the context of ensuring that we can enforce it. I found it interesting that from the point of view of some of those witnesses, it is almost expected that the large social media platforms will honour their side of the bargain in terms of enforcement. Outside of X, does the Minister feel that this kind of mutual co-operation in enforcing legislation is there among all the social media platforms? The representatives from the Garda Síochána indicated that the force was investigating 200 or so images at that point. Does the Minister know if the number of such images has increased in the week since their appearance at the media committee?

Sentiment score: 0.15

A lot of this is new to us. This is obviously developing very fast. The very nature of these media platforms and AI tools in particular mean that much of it is new. When questioning the Minister, I am not trying to point the finger at Coimisiún na Meán or anybody else. In retrospect, does the Minister think that we could have acted on this faster, particularly in the context of learning lessons for the future and so on? The Minister said he hopes that a statement will be forthcoming, and the sooner the better. In that context, does he think, in retrospect, that we could have done anything better? The Minister is probably aware that X has refused to send representatives to appear before the media committee of which Deputy Byrne and I are members. Does the Minister think that is an error on X's part and that it should reconsider its position?

Sentiment score: 0.04