AI has been a lively topic of discussion in recent days, not least because of the lord mayor of Cork’s admission that he relies on AI for his speeches. A far darker side of AI technology was revealed this week when Cormac O’Keeffe reported on findings shared by Children at Risk in Ireland (Cari), a sexual abuse treatment service for young children. The service has been inundated with new referral cases involving harmful sexual behaviour among children; Cari believes increased exposure to online pornography, online grooming, and image-based abuse is having a “real impact” on young children. The combination of AI tools such as Grok and irresponsible social media companies is toxic, but hardly surprising. The precise impact of that combination can be seen in the rising number of cases of harmful sexual behaviour among children.

Source: Irish Examiner January 30, 2026 01:18 UTC