Paul Murphy and Micheál Martin clash over handling of X AI nudification issue
Clashes erupted in the Dáil over the X ‘nudification’ scandal, as PBP TD Paul Murphy accused the Government of failing to act on the issue.During Leaders’ Questions on Wednesday, Mr Murphy said he was not accusing the Government of condoning sexual abuse material generated on X and its AI chatbot Grok, but argued it did not want to deal with the scandal.“I’m not saying you condone the production of sexual abuse material, I’m saying you don’t want to do anything about it because you don’t want to annoy or harm your relationship with big tech,” Mr Murphy said.Taoiseach Micheál Martin described Mr Murphy’s assertion as “reprehensible”.“The idea that we would give priority to not standing up to big tech over the generation and sharing of child abuse material, it’s an absolutely shocking and reprehensible assertion,” Mr Martin said.“How dare you, who the hell do you think you are? That you’ve some moral superiority over everybody else.” Mr Martin said all members of the Dáil were “at one” in pursuing anyone who generates or disseminates child sexual abuse material.Earlier in the exchange, Mr Murphy claimed X misled the Government by stating that the ability to remove an individual’s clothing through Grok AI had been disabled, following a meeting with AI Minister Niamh Smyth.He said anyone in Ireland could still access the feature via a VPN, and questioned whether gardaí were directly investigating X itself, rather than only users who generated sexually explicit images and child sexual abuse material.Mr Murphy cited the raiding of X’s offices in France by the French cybercrime unit, asking whether gardaí would take similar action in Ireland.Mr Martin said Ireland’s prosecutors are investigating the matter, with 200 lines of inquiry under way.“We do not interfere with the prosecutors in this jurisdiction, we don’t interfere with the gardaí,” Mr Martin said.The Taoiseach said the European Commission is investigating X in collaboration with national regulators, including Coimisiún na Meán.“There is no toleration of child abuse materials on any platform. There’s no attempt by any Government to protect such proliferation of abuse material,” Mr Martin said, citing the 1998 Child Trafficking and Pornography Act.Mr Murphy said the Government did not need to wait for the European Commission investigation, pointing to the Act’s powers to take criminal action against X.Mr Martin said gardaí are “pursuing all aspects” of the 1998 Act to ensure “full accountability” in relation to the X scandal.
