Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To follow on from what Deputy O’Reilly said about the threat to employment, it could have vast consequences for all types of employment. For example, in the case of lawyers who draft contracts, this could be done completely by AI in the future. People may think that it is a good development. However, it will have societal consequences we need to keep on top of. My concern is that it will result globally in the concentration of wealth in a smaller group of people as the necessity for labour to create capital is broken.

We also need to look at the consequences for democracy and the world of politics. One of the consequences of AI will be that we simply will not be able to trust or believe anything we see with our own eyes. We will see images of politicians saying things they never said and doing things they never did, so we need to protect democracy when it comes to that as well. I hope this will be contemplated in the considerations of the EU and the Department.

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