Limerick TD and Communications Minister quits X over Grok concerns
Patrick O'Donovan acts in wake of reports that AI tool was creating sexual and violent images of women and children
LIMERICK TD and the Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan has deleted his account on the social media platform X.
The Fine Gael TD for Limerick County said he made the move following revelations in relation to the artificial intelligence (AI) tool Grok, which was introduced to the website.
Media reports have revealed that Grok was creating sexual and violent images of women and children.
For Mr O’Donovan, this was the tipping point.
He confirmed the news that he will no longer use X, formerly Twitter, in an interview on Live95FM's Limerick Today show.
“I've deactivated it. And look, I'm Minister for Communications and a Minister for Media I just felt that if you're on a platform where this is allowed, and regardless of whether you're paying for it or not, I just don't feel comfortable with it,” he said.
Mr O’Donovan, who had almost 10,000 followers under his handle @podonovan, added: “I don't feel comfortable with the fact that, there's people that are going to use, you know, my image or your image or somebody else's image artificially generate something around it and maybe make it into something that it shouldn't and publish it”.
Generating and editing images with Grok has since been limited to paid subscribers.
The bot confirmed the change has been made effective from today, and says it's to address recent misuse concerns.
Media regulator Coimisiún na Meán says it's engaging with the European Commission and Gardaí on Grok.
Mr O’Donovan says before Christmas, he proposed an age verification tool for social media use.
The minister said his decision to leave X was personal when asked if he feared the move might alienate executives at X, which employs an estimated 100 people in Dublin.
He said he is refocusing his efforts on his own use to other social media outlets.