Enterprise Minister Peter Burke has said he would be “horrified” to see young children abused through artificial intelligence mechanisms online.
Speaking to reporters today at Government Buildings, the Fine Gael Minister said that reports regarding the Grok AI tool and its capacity for creating sexually explicit or suggestive deepfakes were “hugely concerning” to the government.
“We have to protect our children,” Burke said.
“We have to ensure that the safeguards are robust in that manner and I working with government colleagues will be very much to the forefront in doing just that.”
Burke expressed serious concern over the safety of children online, noting that any person who chooses to post images of their children on social media does so with a “health warning.”
“I was recently in the supermarket two weeks ago, it was my young child’s birthday, he was 10, and two or three people said to my young Leo, ‘Oh, Happy Birthday,'” he said.
“He came out and said, ‘How did they know it was my birthday?’ And just made me think, you know, you have to really think about actions that you do take and you know that was a lesson for me.”
The Minister denied that the government was afraid to confront Elon Musk because of the billionaire’s proximity to Donald Trump or his previous criticisms of Irish policy.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
“I think the Irish government is very firm in rule of law, very firm in protecting future generations which are so important.”
Burke added that no amount of corporation tax revenue was more important than the protection of the next generation.
“Our future generations are the most important prize possession that we have,” he continued.
“The law has to be applied and obviously the government will have to take its decision collectively in relation to any platform that it’s on.”
The Minister noted that Coimisiún na Meán and the European Commission are currently investigating the matter.
“I want to see the investigation run its course,” Burke said.
“Investigations have to run their course and I think that’s the most appropriate forum for it to take place.”
The controversy follows a series of reports concerning the safety protocols of Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI and integrated into the X platform.
Musk himself has condemned any illegal use of his platform’s tools, saying that he will see to it that anyone using the technology for illegal means will face the full rigours of the law.
Regulators across the European Union have recently increased scrutiny of social media companies under the Digital Services Act, which mandates strict measures for the protection of minors and the removal of illegal content.