Member's statement: Grok: Deepfake Images

Member's statement by Ms Emma Sheerin on 12 January 2026.

MLA

Ms Emma Sheerin

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

12 January 2026

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

Grok: Deepfake Images

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5311202

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I speak this afternoon about a deeply disturbing occurrence that we have seen rise in popularity over the past week: the use of AI to invent images that sexualise young women and girls and the real threat that that poses. We talk all the time in the Chamber and, indeed, across society about violence against women and girls, and this is a new way of torturing women. I often think of the phrase, "Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words cannot hurt you": we know, of course, that that is not true. Such images are deeply harmful to the women and young people who have been targeted. We need to see more action in response to the Grok technology that is being used to undress people without their consent or permission. The owners of X, formerly known as Twitter, have removed that function for anyone who is not a paid user, but they need to go further than that. That call has already been made by a range of people. We need to see action from Ofcom and the British Government to criminalise those who have engaged in such behaviour. The Minister of Justice has formally committed to criminalising deepfake technology and the creation of deepfake images. I know that we will want to work with her to ensure that that is done as quickly as possible. There needs to be a united message from the House that the sharing of inappropriate images is illegal and that sharing such images without consent is illegal. As well as that, the creation of such images should be discouraged and made illegal. There is a massive piece of cross-departmental work to be done on education and on engaging with young people in particular to have conversations with them about the ramifications of such harmful crimes and of sharing images. We have seen the rise of such behaviour even in our schools, and its long-term impacts are crazy. I commend the bravery of the young person in Armagh who came forward when they were made aware that such an image had been created of them. I encourage all young people affected, instead of suffering shame and, as a result, seeing more harm done, to come forward and talk about it in order to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

389 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:13 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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