Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The protection of democracy is extremely important. We have seen rogue actors trying to influence elections. There are multiple examples of that across democracies. AI is another more advanced tool for state and non-state actors to try to intervene and affect election results. My understanding is that Art O'Leary, the head of the Electoral Commission, is very engaged with this issue in terms of trying to ensure that we do everything we can to look at international best practice in order to protect against the potential threats in the context of an election cycle. The latter will obviously get under way next year in the context of the local and European elections and will lead into the next general election.

From talking to technology companies, I am aware that there is an understanding - even in the tech sector - that the threats from AI are real. They want and need a regulated environment that can allow the benefits of AI which are significant. Ireland has great advantages from being part of the research and innovation programmes that develop AI services. Our role needs to be to facilitate appropriate regulation to protect consumers. However, we must not try to swim against the tide and allow AI technology and innovation to happen outside the European Union, which will ultimately impact us anyway. This is about trying to keep it between the ditches by having appropriate regulation while at the same time facilitating much of the global research out of Ireland.

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