Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has opened a formal investigation into X over concerns that its Grok artificial intelligence tool may have been used to generate non-consensual sexual images of real people, including children.
The inquiry is being led by the Data Protection Commission, which acts as X’s main privacy regulator in the European Union because the company’s European headquarters are based in Ireland. The investigation will examine whether X Internet Unlimited Company, the EU subsidiary of X, complied with key requirements under the General Data Protection Regulation.
According to Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle, the regulator began engaging with the company after media reports claimed that users were able to prompt the @Grok account to create sexualised images of real individuals. The DPC will now assess whether X followed GDPR principles such as lawful data processing, data protection by design, and whether it carried out proper data protection impact assessments before deploying the tool.
The probe in Ireland adds to mounting global pressure on X’s AI operations. In the United Kingdom, the Information Commissioner’s Office has launched its own formal investigation. Meanwhile, the European Commission is reviewing whether X met its obligations under the Digital Services Act before rolling out Grok.
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