Opening Statement to the Irish Parliament Committee on AI

Tue 18 November 2025

My opening statement to the Irish Parliament (Oireachtas) joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence. The theme of the session was 'AI, Truth and Democracy'

I would like to thank the Committee for the invitation to participate in this discussion about AI, Truth and Democracy.

AI

  1. AI is both a set of technologies, such as neural networks and transformer models, and a range of rhetorical claims. The technology and the claims are only loosely connected.
  2. I will argue that AI undermines the ideals of truth and democracy.

Truth

  1. AI has an adversarial relation with truth. The core of AI's calculations are correlations not causal relations, so it's outputs are plausible rather than factual.
  2. AI's pattern recognition is, therefore, a form of computational conspiracy theory, and its outputs are disinformation even when they appear to be accurate.
  3. AI's internal opacity and its inability to parse social complexity make it impossible to remove bias and errors.
  4. While a belief in AI's superior powers persists, its claims to truth will retain authority while harming the most marginalised.
  5. Even the engineers who build AI can't explain what's going on inside, so reliable regulation is a non-starter.
  6. At the same time, the efforts to make AI more reliable actually make it more effective at selecting preferred, and usually "non-woke", versions of truth.
  7. The claims that AI will solve everything from climate change to infectious disease deflect attention from the uncomfortable truths of our current moment.
  8. This hubris is driving an investment bubble that diverts vast sums from real social needs.

Democracy

  1. It's increasingly clear that AI is precaritising rather than productive; it can't replace people but it makes their conditions more vulnerable.
  2. AI is extending forms of austerity prevalent since the crash of 2008 while preparing a new financial crash of its own, creating conditions which are corrosive to democracy.
  3. In addition, AI is anti-democratic in terms of institutional and regulatory capture.
  4. We are currently witnessing the EU walking back the flagship AI Act in the face of pressure from Trump and Big Tech.
  5. Peter Thiel, founder of Palantir and patron of J. D. Vance, is on a lecture tour saying attempts to regulate AI are the work of the Antichrist.
  6. Meanwhile, the example of DOGE demonstrated AI's effectiveness as a form of authoritarian cyberattack on centralised institutions.
  7. More broadly, AI is toxic to democracy via its impact on education and young people.
  8. Large Language Models are sold as learning accelerators but substitute slop for critical thinking.
  9. They are becoming the first port of call for everything from essays to relationship advice.
  10. AI undermines the replenishment of a citizenry with the capacity for independent thought.
  11. In its systemic effects, AI will fail to solve problems, cause collateral damage, and will benefit reactionary politics.

Recommendations

  1. I suggest that the committee avoid misleading responses to this state of affairs, such as the idea of AI sovereignty. AI should be considered harmful to whatever polity is hosting it.
  2. The committee should at least be clear with itself what it's endorsing when it endorses AI. At best, the alleged benefits to healthcare and so on really amount to algorithmic Thatcherism. A more likely outcome is that widespread AI adoption will strengthen the far right.
  3. I urge the committee to see AI as a symptom rather than a cause, and to use it as a diagnostic for the underlying problems of a system that needs restructuring for the benefit of people and planet.
  4. Having said that, AI is an actor in its own right and one that will intensify real world problems like energy costs, unemployment and militarisation.
  5. Therefore, I also encourage the committee to place worker and community collectives at the heart of decision-making about AI, with a clear power of veto.
  6. This should also apply to expanding the number and/or scale of energy-hungry and recolonising data centres.
  7. Decision-making around AI should prioritise alternative solutions that reduce the overall dependence on computation and elevate direct social relationships.

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