Cttee recommends ban on Meta's smart glasses over consent

Updated / Tuesday, 10 Nov 2026 16:34

Getty

The Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence has recommended a ban on Meta's smart glasses, which allow users to covertly record video and take photos of people without their consent.

The committee is also proposing fresh criminal sanctions against the directors of tech companies whose artificial intelligence tools are used to create deepfake images similar to those used by X's Grok tool earlier this year.

TDs and Senators on the committee are also calling for the Electoral Commission - An Coimisiún Toghcháin - to be given new powers to investigate and act on AI-driven election interference and for there to be a "rapid-response" protocol with Coimisiún na Meán and the AI office to deal with such cases.

The call comes after a fake RTÉ News clip emerged last year claiming Catherine Connolly had withdrawn from the Presidential Election.

In its third interim report examining issues around AI, Truth and Democracy, the committee said: "Smart glasses capable of covert recording without consent should be prohibited and this matter should be taken up at the Data Protection Commission."

However, TDs and Senators also note "the value of smart glasses and ... their potential positive use, in particular for those who are visually impaired".

On Grok and image-based abuse, the committee said Coimisiún na Meán should have immediate takedown powers.

It also said there should be criminal liability for companies and those responsible for designing and deploying systems capable of generating non-consensual intimate images of real people or child sexual abuse material.

The committee also believes publishers should be able to opt out of having their work used in AI overviews while staying in ordinary search results and that workers should be provided with a right to opt out from using AI.

It also recommended that AI should be "strong regulated" within public services rather than relied upon.

It said where AI adoption in public services is deemed beneficial or necessary, there should be re-training for public servants.

This would include a cohort who would "actually understand how the AI 'black box' or algorithm produces a particular result".

"Where its use is deemed appropriate, AI should be used only to contribute to the diagnosis of underlying problems with public sector systems and to augment human capabilities and decision-making processes, rather than replace or dilute them," it said.

The committee’s report makes 64 recommendations in total.

It also includes a strengthening of Coco’s Law to address AI systems that are used to generate adult image-based sexual abuse.

Coco's Law - officially called the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act - was introduced in Ireland in 2020 in response to the tragic death by suicide of 21-year-old Nicole 'Coco' Fox in 2018 after a sustained cyberbullying campaign against her.