Irish parliamentary committee seeks ban on covert-recording smart glasses
Ireland’s parliamentary artificial-intelligence committee has recommended prohibiting smart glasses capable of covert recording without consent. Its report also calls for stronger safeguards in public services and against image-based abuse and election interference. These are proposals rather than new laws, and the committee acknowledges beneficial uses of glasses, including assistance for visually impaired people.
Artificial Intelligence··Morning
Consent is central to the proposed glasses ban
Ireland’s parliamentary artificial-intelligence committee has recommended prohibiting smart glasses capable of secretly recording people without consent. The proposal appears in its third interim report on artificial intelligence, truth and democracy, published on November 10. RTÉ and the Irish Examiner report that the committee wants the issue taken up by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, the regulator responsible for personal-data protection. The committee recognizes positive uses of glasses, particularly for people with visual impairments. Committee chair Naoise Ó Cearúil suggested that Meta’s built-in flashing recording light, if left unmodified, could keep its glasses outside a definition of covert recording. The recommendation has not itself enacted a prohibition.[1], [2]
New powers sought against image abuse and election interference
The committee also proposes criminal liability for companies and people responsible for designing or deploying systems capable of producing non-consensual intimate images of real people or child sexual abuse material. It calls for immediate removal powers for Coimisiún na Meán, Ireland’s media regulator. On elections, the committee wants the Electoral Commission to investigate and act against AI-driven interference, supported by a rapid-response arrangement with the media regulator and the AI office. A fabricated RTÉ clip claiming Catherine Connolly had withdrawn from the previous presidential election forms part of the context. These proposals form part of a report containing 64 recommendations rather than powers already granted to regulators.[1]
Public services and children get separate safeguards
For public services, the committee recommends strong regulation, staff retraining where adoption is considered beneficial or necessary, and systems that augment human judgement. It also argues that workers should have a right to opt out of using AI and that publishers should be able to avoid AI overviews while remaining in ordinary search results. The Irish Examiner reports additional recommendations concerning children: independent assessment before deploying products that pose risks to their safety or rights, and disabling personalized recommendations on child accounts. Young people and their advocates should also be represented on the National AI Office board, the committee says, to inform its work on risks affecting them.[1], [2]
