Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

By its nature, regulation always tends to be catching up with developments that have moved ahead of it. As for, artificial intelligence, I read a book by Mr. Jamie Susskind, a US writer who has written about the processes embedded in artificial intelligence that will determine things like our right to get insurance and jobs. The political and governance system, in Ireland and internationally, has not yet caught up with this and struck a balance between freedom of expression and regulation. These are complex issues. The problem is not a lack of willingness to find solutions. I have found that even the narrow aspect I am trying to deal with, the definition of harmful content, is quite tricky to regulate in a way that balances freedom of expression with the need to protect citizens, particularly vulnerable citizens, from its abuse. It is not as simple as governments not bringing resources to bear. These are genuinely tricky issues. We need international co-operation in the design of a robust and enforceable response. While it is important to ask whether sufficient resources are being devoted to the enforcement of existing legislation, many of these challenges are far more profound than that. The regulators have not quite caught up and learned how to design these systems.