Is mór agam an deis an seans seo a thapú labhairt ar cheist na hintleachta saorga. It is a timely discussion. It is important to recognise that the recent surge in conversation has led us to an reset about how we think of AI, the potential it brings and the power it has as a technology. Oftentimes in this House, we have looked at the positive benefits and positive potential of AI as a new technology. However, this is a point for us to reset that conversation and talk about it in terms of harnessing the potential, placing as much import and emphasis on the harness as we do on exploring the actual potential. It is a pivotal moment where societies will need to come together, understand fully the risks and take a risk-based approach to how we take account of the fact that there is a new technology in AI. No one is going is reverse the technology, but we need to make sure that our legislative frameworks and regulatory approaches are fit for purpose and allow us to benefit as a society from what AI can do while ensuring that we fully eliminate the risks. Any parent who has observed the discussion in the last few weeks has been disgusted by the use of AI tools to create child sexual abuse material, CSAM, and the weaponisation of intimate images of women, which it is important to emphasise are already illegal according to Irish law. I pay tribute to the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, for her proactive approach in leading from the front on this and vocalising what a lot of constituents have been saying to me about the horror they have felt at this underbelly of AI use. When we talk about the harnessing of potential, that indicates the importance of talking about the guard-rails that we put in place, the responsibility, the governance and, most importantly, having control as a society. AI can be an excellent servant for our society, but it can be a wicked master. We need to make sure that the balance is perfectly set back towards governments steering and regulating the overall direction of the technology. In this House, we have explored the potential of AI already regarding healthcare, the improvement of diagnostics, early detection and personalised care, and assisting in administrative support for our front-line workers, such as gardaí, nurses, prison officers and so on. There is a role AI can play in education and expanding innovation, which many of us saw in the RDS last week when we visited schools from our constituencies that were using AI as part of their work. Regarding the overall economy and approach to work, there are gains to productivity that AI gives many workers across the economy in various different sectors by allowing them to focus on being creative and bringing into focus the importance of emphasising human skills, such as the ability to work as part of a team, think critically and solve a problem. These are skills that are not developed by AI and are intrinsic to human beings. As we have this discussion about the impact that it will have on the world of work, we need to acknowledge that there will be disruption in the employment market. That is why it is important that we take a skills first approach to how we set up our society and our economy to take advantage of the AI technology. This is not just in terms of digital skills. We have work to do in terms of ensuring that digital skills penetration is where it needs to be to allow the population to take advantage of AI. It is also about ensuring that people understand what AI technology can do. It can have biases built into it by its creators. It is ultimately artificial. It is built on training data. It does not have the intrinsic ability of a human being to analyse and think about a problem. It is a machine and not the equivalent to a human consciousness. This is why I encourage the need for reskilling, not only for digital skills but also in the area of critical thinking. I know the Minister, Deputy Lawless, is working on this. This is where arts, humanities and social sciences are so important in promoting these skills and making sure that when people see content on the Internet they do not take it as gospel but question the source from whence it came, the assumptions on which it is based, whether it is strong enough to hold up and whether it is something we should hang our hat on. We know that in various spheres of the economy, and I have spoken about e-scooters in this House previously, that technology often outpaces regulation. The discussion in recent weeks shows us the need for our policy-making apparatus to be up to scratch in order to have the skills to be able to engage with those it seeks to regulate. We need to protect our children above all else. It is important we protect them from harmful materials and the AI-generated risks they encounter but there is also the fact they are entering a world that has AI, as opposed to our generation for whom AI entered the world. They are growing up with AI. They need the basic skills to be able to engage with it properly. Ireland has the opportunity to position itself as a world leader, not only in terms of the benefits of harnessing AI but also in taking a rules and risk-based approach to regulating it properly and preparing all aspects of society for it. The economy can benefit but society knows how to steer it. I look forward in particular to the AI summit to be held next year.

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