Paul Murphy challenges the Minister's assertion on CEO appointment powers in the AI Bill, arguing the legislation hands the Minister control until a board is formed. He warns that combining a mandate to promote AI with responsibility to regulate it creates a conflict that risks public harm.
Appointment powers and accountability
Paul Murphy disputes the Minister's rebuttal to Deputy Gibney, pointing out that the Bill gives the Minister effective power to appoint the CEO until an oversight board is established. He notes that even after a board is created the Minister still chooses the CEO from a shortlist provided by the Public Appointment Service.
Conflict in the AI office mandate
Murphy argues the Bill's inclusion of promoting and fostering AI innovation and literacy within the AI office is deeply problematic. He compares the arrangement to a financial regulator that both promotes and regulates finance, saying you cannot be both poacher and gamekeeper without the roles pointing in opposite directions.
Independence concerns under the Department of Enterprise
The speaker highlights the lack of true independence for the new AI office, noting it sits under the Department of Enterprise which has a stake in promoting AI. Murphy warns that combining promotional and regulatory functions in one office undermines its duty to prevent harm to society.
Separation of roles recommended
While acknowledging the value of promoting AI literacy and innovation, Murphy calls for those functions to be kept separate from the regulator. He stresses that advocacy and oversight should not be carried out by the same office if public safety and impartial regulation are the goals.
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Yeah, I'll be very brief, just two points. One was the point that Deputy Gibney made, I mean, because the Minister denied that she gets to appoint the CEO, but for now, until the establishment of the board, you have total power in appointing the CEO, that's the truth, that's what's set out in the legislation. And then afterwards, I mean, you still get to pick the CEO, you pick the CEO from a shortlist, which is done by the Public Appointment Service, but you do pick them, and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on that, so I'm not sure your strong rebuttal of Deputy Gibney really holds up. And the second point I just wanted to make is about this, look, I think probably the worst thing in this Bill is the inclusion of the mandate of promoting and fostering AI innovation and literacy in the AI office. I just think, this is financial regulator stuff, where the financial regulator was promoting finance and simultaneously regulating finance, you can't be poacher and gamekeeper at the same time, they point in opposite directions. If the government wants to have a body whose job it is to promote AI literacy and so on, knock yourselves out, but don't have it be the same person and office who were supposed to be regulating and ensuring that this doesn't cause harm to society, because that's the whole problem here, you're going to have, okay, you've got both the good mandate and the bad mandate set up together in this one office, and it's sitting under the auspices and not really independent of the Department of Enterprise, who are very much on one side of that equation, and I think that is the fundamental problem. And again, you can make the case to have people advocating for fostering AI innovation and literacy and so on, but the idea that it's that it's also the regulator, I think is really very, very problematic.
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