MEP Maria Walsh hosted an event in collaboration with Microsoft in Brussels this week to launch a White Paper aimed at protecting the public from abusive AI content.
The event, which took place on Thursday 20th March in the European Parliament, convened stakeholders including Women Political Leaders, menABLE (EU-Funded Project), We Protect Global Alliance, International Watch Foundation and the European Seniors Union.
Leaders from cross civil society, business and politics agreed on the urgent need to tackle the growing threat of AI and the dangers it presents to women and children in particular.
MEP Maria Walsh said:
“I have been campaigning on the issue of Deepfakes and the weaponisation of AI for some time now, and this is one of the first examples of a tech company stepping up to the plate with a serious commitment to tackle the issue.
“The White Paper, entitled “Protecting the Public from Abusive AI-Generated Content across the EU”, included a number of concerning findings, such as the fact that the availability of AI “nudifiying” tools has resulted in children making, or attempting to make, indecent images of one another.
“The crimes committed in this area are deeply gendered; 95% of the victims of child sexual abuse material in 2023 were female. In 2019, 96% of Deepfakes created were pornographic, with 99% of the victims being women.
“This event brought together individuals and groups from civil society, business, politics and NGOs – with everyone agreeing on the need to urgently tackle this issue and to tackle it together. The dominant theme that emerged from the discussion was an established awareness of the issues at play, along with an urgency to act.
“In my role as an MEP, I am one of the only voices in the European Parliament calling for updated EU legislation to cover the creation of Deepfakes – as evidenced through my work in the Gender Equality Committee. At home, I have written to Minister Jim O’Callaghan about the need to fill the legislative gaps that currently exist in Irish law and I eagerly await a response.”
