Young people have called on politicians to introduce better regulations to protect children from the harmful effects of artificial intelligence.
The Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence has been hearing from teenagers and representative bodies about concerns such as deepfakes, abuse imagery and cyberbullying.
Grace French, a member of the Ombudsman for Children Youth Advisory Panel, said they want to make sure children's voices are listened to.
"We are the group most likely to be impacted by AI, but right now policies and laws have little or no focus on young people and our rights," Ms French said.
Another member of the Youth Advisory Panel, Fionn McWeeney, said that many AI chatbots do not have the necessary safety features to guarantee that the responses children receive are age appropriate.
"Children, especially younger ones, risk being exposed to material that is offensive and distressing or having their personal data stolen," Mr McWeeney said.
"Much more needs to be done to prevent the use of AI to create fake images of young people that can then be exploited for cyberbullying and even abusive material," he added.
Reuban Murray, Youth Worker and AI Project Officer, National Youth Council of Ireland, highlighted concerns around the use of AI by young people for companionship and mental health supports.
"Chatbots specifically designed to interact with young people need to be considered high-risk and regulated as such and we have the framework to do that under the EU AI Act," Mr Murray said.
The Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence is also hearing from the Children's Rights Alliance, the National Parents Council, BeLong To, CyberSafeKids, the Irish Traveller Movement, ISPCC, Spunout and Webwise.
Cathaoirleach of the Committee Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne said the hearings will explore the opportunities as well as transparency, responsibility, accountability and ethics in the provision and operation of AI technologies.
"The children and young adults of today will be the first of their generation to use artificial intelligence in their daily lives and the rise of artificial intelligence will come with a host of questions around security and online safety," Mr Byrne said.
"Whilst artificial intelligence will see significant improvements in areas such as education and health, it's important we discuss the growth of misinformation and toxic online culture which has shown to greatly impact the youngest people in our society," he added.
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