The EU AI Act aims for AI to be transformative, trusted and transparent. I think we can all agree that, in recent days and weeks, we have seen how swiftly AI can move to put dangerous tools in the hands of millions of people all across the globe. Make no mistake, though, Grok might have put the ability to nudify into the public domain and it might have opened the eyes of people and governments who were not already aware of the huge dangers of these tools, but these tools, especially the nudify apps, are not a new phenomenon. We know AI is being used every day, hour and second to exploit mostly women and minor girls. This is why, no matter what pay walls or features are geographically disabled, we must continue this focus that has been so sharp in the last couple of days and the urgency for global co-ordinated action, stronger regulation, mandatory safeguards and accountability measures to prevent AI from becoming a weapon of exploitation. We must ensure that innovation serves human dignity and does not undermine it. As the Chair of the Joint Committee on Children and Equality, I am committed to advocating to protect our young people. To do that, we have to provide legislation and regulation, but also education and empowerment. We did a survey in November that went out to over 2,200 parents. At that point, Grok had not even been launched. In some ways, then, that survey is nearly out of date. We do not know what is coming next week or the week after. We do not know what other apps and technologies are coming down the line, so we have to give people tools to prepare them for the unknown. We have to start building in safety by design. Safety by design and even co-design are also key when we look at AI for people with disabilities. I also sit on the Joint Committee on Disability Matters. We have heard of the fantastic ways in which AI can assist those in our disabled communities, including 131,764 children in Ireland. AI is bringing massive help in the form of assistive technologies. This includes things like screen readers, speech-to-text technology, navigation aids, eye tracking, voice recognition, real-time transcription for those with hearing impairments, etc. These AI tools can lead to greater autonomy, inclusion and participation in education and society. However, we heard really loudly and clearly in the disability matters committee that AI, as it becomes increasingly integrated across public and private services, has the ability to further push the inequalities already present. There are built-in biases already in many of these tools, and new barriers can be created. In the short time we have left to us, therefore, we must use the opportunity to ensure that people with disabilities are properly supported and are meaningful co-designers, especially in things we are using across public services, so AI continues to be a tool for inclusion and not inequality in the disability space. In the time left to me, I want to touch on something Deputy Farrelly mentioned, namely, the rise of AI companionship, especially in relation to our minors. We have seen that there has been huge growth in romantic relationships with AI chatbots. I was alarmed to see that 10% of adults in Ireland had had an AI romantic relationship in the past year and 12% were considering it. That is a massive number of people. The adults in Ireland now did not grow up with chatbots. We grew up learning about relationships in what I do not want to say is the normal way, because maybe this is the new normal, but the teenagers coming up now who are starting to engage in these romantic relationships do not know what to expect. The AI romances are all about control and customisation. You could have the perfect partner and it is really dystopian. We must ensure, therefore, that we are providing supports so our young people coming up are not becoming emotionally dependent on chatbots. We have seen the harm caused in relation to suicide. We are not, though, fully seeing yet the harm being caused in relation to physical and sexual abuse when it goes from offline to the real world, so we really must tackle this crisis. I will finish by saying AI offers unprecedented opportunities for accessibility and inclusion, but only if it is governed by robust regulation, ethical integration and ongoing research into its impact on children, underpinned by education and empowerment. We do not know what is coming, so we have to ensure technology serves human dignity and supports independent living rather than redefining or diminishing it. AI is here. We cannot fight it and we cannot resist it, but we can legislate for it, regulate it and guide it.

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