Oireachtas committee urges tighter controls on public service AI

The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence has called for strong regulation of AI in public services rather than reliance on it. Its report on AI, truth and democracy contains 64 recommendations, including retraining public servants where adoption is considered beneficial or necessary. Some staff should understand how algorithms produce results, while AI should support the diagnosis of underlying system problems and augment human judgment rather than replace it.

The committee recommended legally required independent assessments before deploying AI products that pose risks to children’s safety or rights. It also wants obligations under the EU KIDS Act to cover all AI-involved services for minors, not just very large platforms. Personalised content recommendations should be disabled for child accounts, and young people and their advocates should have representation on the National AI Office’s board.

Smart glasses capable of covert recording without consent should be prohibited, with the Data Protection Commission asked to address the issue. Committee chair Naoise Ó Cearúil cited misuse of Grok to create non-consensual sexualised images of adults and children, alongside deepfakes in the 2025 presidential election, as evidence of the harms of inadequate safeguards. He said effective regulation and innovation are compatible.