David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank our guests for coming in before us today. Deputy O'Reilly used the word Luddite more than once. I am beginning to feel like one when looking at some of this stuff. A number of things strike me. The last line of Professor O'Hare's submission refers to the velocity of AI technology fast exceeding the rate at which the law regarding AI can be framed. That is quite scary. My sense, from keeping an eye on this, is that it is moving extremely fast. There are things happening that even Professor O'Hare admitted he cannot keep up with, and he is an actual expert on this.

When I think of this, it almost goes back to Data and "Star Trek". If one looks at science fiction, it is becoming science fact a lot faster than we can imagine. It is probably even unknown to us, which is quite scary. I would contend a lot of people did not know about AI until quite recently, and that it was a thing happening out there. I would also contend a lot of people, including us, do not really understand it, or know the implications of it. It also strikes me that we would want an Oireachtas committee dedicated to this topic almost exclusively. We have established a number of Oireachtas committees on specific topics. This topic is so important, is moving so quickly and is so complex, that we almost need a specific committee to deal with this.