Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 23 September 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence and Children and Young People: Discussion

2:00 am

Mr. Fionn McWeeney:

I would like to expand on that. The Deputy mentioned how recommendation algorithms feed people this information. That works because when a certain demographic all watches this thing - Andrew Tate, for example - the algorithm automatically assumes you want that. The main issue is looking into the videos and information people in a certain demographic are looking at and addressing why they are looking at it. For underage girls, eating disorders, suicide and self-harm are common topics. If you set up an account today and say you are a teenage girl, that is what will come up. If you say you are an underage teenage boy, you will get far right stuff - you are going to look at Trump and Charlie Kirk. This is how it works. We need to look at why they are prevalent, why it is so common within these demographics and why it is such a common thread in this algorithm.

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