TÁNAISTE SIMON HARRIS has said Artificial Intelligence (AI) is “no longer a concept” and is “here to stay” following a recent visit to San Francisco.

Last week, Harris met with California governor Gavin Newsom as part of an official visit to strengthen Ireland’s economic relationship and cultural ties with California.

Writing on his Substack feed, Harris said that as he travelled though San Francisco, he was “struck” by the “unavoidable reality” of how AI is “woven into daily life”.

“It shapes how people work, how they travel, how they access healthcare and how businesses make decisions,” said Harris.

“On the US West Coast, AI is not a future ambition — it is here, and here to stay.”

He said that this “reality framed every conversation” he had during his visit to California.

Tánaiste Simon Harris with California governor Gavin Newsom last week

Harris added that AI is “now fundamental to economic competitiveness” and remarked that it is “crystal clear” that Ireland “has a real opportunity to lead in this next wave of innovation”.

The Tánaiste also said Ireland will host a “dedicated AI summit” which will be focused on “one core question: how do we ensure the opportunities AI presents benefit all our people?”

“Innovation must be embraced,” said Harris, “but it must also be guided by trust, responsibility and confidence.”

He added: “We see in recent weeks how when this doesn’t happen the harm and danger can be caused.”

There was global outrage recently over sexualized deepfakes created by Elon Musk’s AI tool Grok.

Last week, X announced that it would “geoblock the ability” of all Grok and X users to create images of people in “bikinis, underwear, and similar attire” in jurisdictions where such actions are illegal.

Labour’s Alan Kelly, chair of the Oireachtas Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport Committee, has called on the government to “bring forward a clear and definitive plan to address platforms and AI tools”. 

A meeting will be held today by the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Attorney General and ministers for AI, Justice and Communications to address the potential gaps in existing laws when it comes to the generation and sharing of all sexual abuse images. 

Kelly said it is “extremely important that all of Government is on the one page about this issue” and that Ireland must be able to “enforce our own laws to protect children and all people against the horrific use of AI tools like Grok as has been seen in recent weeks”.

Kelly said app stores like Apple and Google should prevent access to Grok, which he described as a “stop-gap measure but one which can at the very least stem widespread access to their tool”.

“What we are seeing with the misuse of AI tools underlines the reality that technology is evolving faster than enforcement,” said Kelly.

Meanwhile, Harris remarked that the “broader lesson from California is that competitiveness in the AI age is about far more than tax or incentives” and that it is “about talent, entrepreneurship, research and an innovation eco-system”.

“My visit to California made one thing clear to me: the future is already here,” said Harris.

“Ireland’s task is to ensure we are shaping it, and embracing it – while building on the foundations that we have with the West coast, foundations for which we should be very proud.

“We can never be complacent about our economic well-being. There is no room to rest on our laurels. We need to be ready for an innovation revolution.”