Meta Platform’s artificial intelligence (AI) tools are trained not to undress people or create nude images, its representatives are expected to tell the Oireachtas media committee on Wednesday, according to a copy of the company’s opening statement seen by The Irish Times.
The social-media company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is set to tell the committee it takes “an extremely strong stance against non-consensual intimate imagery, whether it’s real or AI-generated” with the sharing of such media treated as “among our most serious policy violations”.
“Our AI tools are trained not to comply with requests to create nude images or to remove clothes from people shown in images – and we have built-in safeguards to prevent these violating images from being created,” Dualta Ó Broin, the director of public policy for Meta Ireland, is expected to say.
He is set to appear at the joint Oireachtas media committee on Wednesday, alongside Meta colleague David Miles, safety policy director for EMEA, and representatives from Google and TikTok.
The sitting comes shortly after the European Commission opened a formal investigation into social-media platform X and Grok’s “nudification” feature that allowed users to digitally undress images of people, including children, without their consent.
[ French prosecutors raid Elon Musk’s X offices in ParisOpens in new window ]
X was twice invited to attend the committee meeting but turned down the invitation, instead sending a written submission.
Labour TD Alan Kelly, chairman of the Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport committee, labelled X’s refusal to appear at the committee as “extremely disappointing”.
[ European Commission opens investigation into Grok’s ‘nudification’ featureOpens in new window ]
“It is extremely disappointing and worrying that X have refused to attend especially after a request was additionally made by the Taoiseach for them to do so.”
Tánaiste Simon Harris has said it is “disrespectful” but not surprising that Elon musk’s X has rejected an invitation to the Oireachtas media committee.
Minister for Media Patrick O’Donovan will bring a memo to cabinet today outlining Ireland’s plan to make online safety a centrepiece of its presidency of the EU.
Arriving to cabinet on Wednesday morning, Harris said on Wednesday that his clear view was that the health and wellbeing of young people was being “experimented on” by social media companies and that there should be a minimum age for use of the platforms.
He said he was “disappointed but not surprised” that X had turned down an invitation to discuss social media regulation and safety at the Oireachtas media committee today (Weds). He said the move was “disrespectful” and “unhelpful”.
“It’s not the be all and end all,” he said, adding that the company cannot ignore that the EU had opened an investigation into its Grok AI tool. Social media cannot be self regulating, he said, adding: “it’s no longer about asking social media companies nicely if they would like to comply with basic decency and humanity… we now have laws, Irish laws, European laws”
In relation to age verification, TikTok’s head of public policy and government relations Susan Moss is expected to say that “despite best efforts, there remains no globally agreed-upon method for effectively confirming a person’s age in a way that also preserves their privacy”.
Moss is set to state that TikTok will begin to roll out “enhanced technology” in Europe to support its moderation teams in detecting and removing accounts of those younger than 13.
“We remain the only big platform to transparently publish every quarter the number of suspected under-13 accounts that we remove,” her opening statement reads.
She is set to explain that a series of technological advancements are helping the company to “get violative content down faster, reducing the likelihood of our community seeing it”.
Automating takedowns, she is set to say, is allowing TikTok’s safety teams to work on tasks that “most benefits from human expertise – like handling appeals, consulting external experts and responding to fast-moving events”.
A spokeswoman for TikTok confirmed the veracity of the company’s statement.
The committee meeting on Wednesday, its chairman said, is due to examine how big online platforms approach regulation, online safety and the protection of minors.
Issues including content moderation, technology and human oversight to address harmful and illegal content, and age-appropriate design will also be discussed.
At the committee, Google will be represented by its government affairs and public policy manager, Ryan Meade, alongside Chloe Setter, the company’s child safety public policy manager. TikTok will also be represented by its minor safety public policy lead Richard Collard.
Meta has been contacted for comment.