Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 7 October 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence and Disability: Discussion

2:00 am

Mr. Tim Culhane:

If I could just go back to earlier question around the issue with AI and accessibility, there are two sides to this. First, there is the direct connection with AI.

We probably all are aware of having ChatGPT apps on our phone where we ask questions and that sort of thing, but there is no guarantee that ChatGPT could bring out an app next week and break accessibility on it, and that would immediately prevent me or anyone else with a visual impairment from using the app. That would be a concern. On the other side is the use of AI as a tool to, as we were talking about, create products and even the generation of websites and stuff like that. There was mention of human jobs being replaced by AI jobs and bringing in an automated way so that we could potentially end up with websites being created that are not accessible or only partially accessible.

Can I clarify the Deputy's second question? Was it about creative funding?