Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth
Protection of Children in the Use of Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed)
Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
I am grateful for the opportunity to attend this meeting. I have dealt with a number of the witnesses previously at the media committee. I appreciate much of the work they do, but they will forgive me for saying that I am not convinced, particularly when we talk about the capacity of AI to protect children online in the circumstances concerned. Even though Mr. Ó Broin talked about how Meta's AI is able to pick up many of the questions, we are not guaranteed the safety of children or young people on the platforms. I appreciate that it is never possible to have a 100% guarantee, but I think a great deal more can be done.
I have three questions. The first is for Ms Moss and Ms Setter. They will be aware that a "Prime Time" programme is due to air on RTÉ this evening. I obviously have not seen the programme, but I understand that it will show how it was relatively easy for somebody purporting to be a 13-year-old to set up an account, access TikTok and see content that may not be deemed appropriate. It is as easy to do it with the other platforms, but TikTok has a significant teenage population on its platform. Are the witnesses not concerned about that?