Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here. I have concerns over the approach the Government is taking and the balance that I wish to see in terms of supports for industries, innovation and enterprise versus the concerns and mitigation I would see as regards the risks of AI across society, by which I mean labour displacement, discrimination, climate and misinformation. I will give a couple of examples of this. In its strategy document, AI - Here for Good, the Department states the EU AI Act will place few, or no, obligations on most businesses which use AI to improve their productivity and effectiveness. The Minister of State, in her statement, outlined three commitments, two of which - the two direct ones - are around supports for business. In the programme for Government, there are 22 commitments under the heading, Ireland as a Leader in the Digital Economy and Artificial Intelligence, only one commitment under climate which does not really address AI issues at all, and two commitments under education and policing, which do not deal with those AI challenges either. My concern is that the Minister of State, in her portfolio, will face difficulty in achieving that balance between supports for business and mitigating risks. How can we address those issues and provide oversight when it seems they are not even acknowledged within Government plans?