Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State on her new role. The opportunity to speak about artificial intelligence is apt at this point in time. At no age in our society has technology had a bigger role, particularly considering social media and the impact that has had on so many people across the globe, particularly across Ireland. It is clear that there is significant power in all of that. The previous speaker spoke of the power that AI has. The difficulty with it is that people have to make decisions as to how that power is employed. Will it be employed for the good or for the bad? We think of social media and the number of people whose lives have been destroyed by it because that power was used negatively, and the number of other people whose lives were enhanced by it because it was used positively.

It is down to that decision that has to be made. That is why regulation is so important in all of this. The opportunities that were spoken of by so many Deputies are absolutely real, including the opportunities in the health service, in education and even in our bus timetables. No matter what we look at, whether transport or whatever else, AI has a role to play which can be positive and enhancing for everyone in society. There are certainly opportunities in employment and so on. Possibly, in the future, it could create opportunities to create more new and different energy sources which will supply the energy which will be needed for it.

In the end, it comes back to how we regulate this.

There are very big vested interests ensuring that there is little or no regulation. We heard what Mr. Vance had to say with regard to that when he went to the European convention recently in Munich. These are world players and they dominate, and that is the difficulty we have. One of the examples I often think about is Adam Smith. He wrote a book many years ago called The Wealth of Nations. He was, of course, the hero of capitalism, but he was also a very strong proponent for strong regulation, and that the strong hand of government had to be there to ensure there was fair play. Toward the end of that book there is a piece that states that never is there a time when two or more merchants come together for the most casual of conversation but the conversation turns to fix the market to their benefit.

See this speech in context