Ms Caoilfhionn Gallagher:

In response to Senator Clonan, these are very important and huge questions, such as the "was it ever thus?" question. Essentially, the Senator's question is around whether it is really different to the old problems, and whether it is old problems in new packaging. Is it the equivalent of the Judy Blume book passed around by teenage girls without their parents knowing about it? I agree very much with what Ms Cooney has just said about the key difference essentially being the vastly different scale. The reach and the ease of access is critical, and it has both risks and benefits. We must remember that it also has benefits. That is one of the reasons this is such a nuanced and complicated issue because the risks include, as Ms Cooney just said, issues around child abuse and online grooming. It also has the potential where someone who is in a very obscure group with very particular racist views, for example, might never meet someone in real life who shares those views but is able, through this mechanism, to meet people worldwide who might share these very twisted, difficult views and it may potentially allow them to organise. They are huge risks.

It also has benefits, for example, with regard to isolated teenagers in particular who are in groups that do not have real-life support from their families. That is why I made the point about the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, emphasising that sometimes children are at risk from their caregivers, for example. We have to be sure we do not throw the baby out with the bathwater, and when we are looking at ways in which we design a response to these very serious and grave issues we are talking about today, we do so in a way that also recognises there can be protective elements to connections through social media.

I have two more points. Regarding the Senator's point about AI, the patriarchy and misogyny, AI of course is not monolithic. The short answer is that yes, somehow AI is misogynistic and patriarchal. It works from historic datasets so it will reinforce historic disadvantage. That is one of the really key issues that is outlined in the UNICEF guidelines, and is important to bear in mind.

Finally, I agree with Professor O'Sullivan on not conflating AI with social media, and recognising, in respect of child-centred design, the importance of looking at automated decision-making processes that impact children both directly and indirectly in a vast range of ways. With regard to the question where horizon scanning was referred to, one of the real challenges we have here is that ultimately what we are looking at are the disruptive effects of AI that are going to transform children's lives in ways that are difficult to predict and understand. That is why we need to get ahead of the curve, do more, and do it more quickly. The international materials we have referred to are a helpful touchstone when doing that.