Ireland’s national police service confirmed 200 active investigations into child sexual abuse-related images generated using Grok, the xAI chatbot available through X. Officers must assess the material and attempt to identify those responsible before deciding whether criminal charges can be brought.
Detective Chief Superintendent Barry Walsh, head of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau, confirmed the number during an Oireachtas Arts and Media Committee hearing. Asked whether all 200 images being examined came from Grok, he said they did.
Gardaí said possible prosecutions could use several existing statutes, including laws covering harmful communications, non-fatal offences, proceeds of crime, child trafficking and pornography. Walsh said the process would take time because investigators first need to determine whether each item meets a criminal threshold, then identify a suspected creator or distributor where possible.
Cross-border evidence adds delay. Walsh told lawmakers that online investigations frequently require work outside Ireland’s jurisdiction. Gardaí had contacted media regulator Coimisiún na Meán and planned another meeting to discuss the matter.
The 200 Grok cases sit within a much larger increase in suspicious-content referrals. Walsh said police received 25,000 referrals indicating possible child sexual abuse material in the previous year, compared with 13,300 in 2024. Those figures cover a broader category and should not be read as additional Grok cases.
Police also emphasized victim support in cases involving sextortion and non-consensual intimate images. Walsh said officers work with Hotline.ie to remove material and conduct outreach in schools, colleges and parent groups. He warned that once an image is posted online, fully eliminating it can be difficult.
The European Commission said it would assess measures announced by X to prevent Grok from generating sexualized images of women and children. A spokesperson said the Commission could use the Digital Services Act’s enforcement powers if the changes did not effectively protect users in the European Union.
X’s response therefore faces scrutiny from two directions: criminal investigators examining individual images and European regulators evaluating whether platform-level safeguards work. The two processes ask different questions and can proceed independently.
Irish lawmakers pressed for stronger action, with some criticizing X’s moderation and others emphasizing the vulnerability of women and young people. AI Minister Niamh Smyth said Grok should be banned in Ireland if X failed to comply with Irish law. Government ministers planned a roundtable to consider a broader response to AI-generated sexual and child-abuse material.
No prosecution had been announced from the 200 investigations in the supplied evidence. The confirmed development is that each report is under active assessment, with criminal liability depending on the content, applicable law and whether investigators can establish who created or shared it.
