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A NUMBER of Tyrone sport clubs have issued warnings after AI-generated ‘sexual images’ were used in a blackmail attempt against a young person in Armagh.
Clubs including Omagh St Enda’s and Strathroy Harps shared statements on social media. They explained that images featured the young person’s face on an AI-generated body and that the perpetrators also issued blackmail threat demanding money to prevent the image from being shared online.
“Our Health and Wellbeing committee wish to make our young people and parents aware of a young person who has been targeted within the GAA community,” a statement from St Enda’s said.
“Sexual images were sent using AI with the young person’s face on an AI body with a blackmail threat of sharing the image online if money was not paid… A list of the young persons friends on social media was also sent to the young person.
“Thankfully the young person targeted was very sensible and immediately alerted their parents.”
The PSNI confirmed it received a report on Tuesday regarding the blackmail, which occurred around 11.40pm on Monday.
Neighbourhood Inspector Gary McCullough said, “Our officers recently spoke to young people about online blackmail, including scams and spam, advising them to tell their parents or guardians.
“We take all reports of this nature seriously and investigate them thoroughly.”
Earlier this week, UK Technology Secretary Liz Kendall called on Elon Musk’s platform X to urgently address concerns over its AI chatbot Grok, which has reportedly been used to create non-consensual sexualised images of women and girls.
The Internet Watch Foundation charity also said its analysts had discovered “criminal imagery” of girls aged between 11 and 13 that “appears to have been created” using Grok.
In a statement, X said, “We take action against illegal content on X, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary.”
Omagh based councillor Stephen Donnelly added, “Young people across Tyrone need to know that there is support available to navigate these difficult situations, and I would urge all parents to make sure that they are proactively having these conversations with their children so that these problems do not fester in the shadows.”
