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

The bigger question is do we need to be scared of AI? How is Ms Carberry's Department involved in the risk assessment the platforms are supposed to do of risks to things like human rights, democracy, mental health or whatever? Where are we on, as Ms Carberry said, making sure it is safe? What is the official role of the Department? It seems to me the EU model puts the responsibility on the platforms to assess the risk to whatever and the regulator oversees their work. As the champion of enterprise, what role does the Department play in ensuring these companies who have these big platforms are competent and capable of doing the risk assessment? The corollary of that is that we heard from Accenture or one of those people who were before the committee that every one of their staff has now been inducted into a deep understanding of generative AI. They obviously see this as essential to their role as consultants in this sphere. In the public service role as regulators but also wanting to ensure enterprise success, are we equipping our people to be in that space and to know the difference between safe and unsafe?