Debate contribution: Artificial Intelligence and Online Violence Against Women and Girls

Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on 26 January 2026.

MLA

Mr Gerry Carroll

Party at the time

People Before Profit Alliance

Date

26 January 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Artificial Intelligence and Online Violence Against Women and Girls

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5341479

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank the Member for proposing the motion. I pay tribute to the Member for East Derry and all women in this Building and beyond who have been affected by this horrendous practice. It is clear that our current laws are not fit for purpose and cannot manage the emerging risks from artificial intelligence. The Grok development shows that, as Mr Beattie said, Governments are playing catch-up on AI. That is putting it mildly. AI systems are developing at such a rapid pace that our existing laws cannot keep up. I do not want to give anybody else sleepless nights, but, if we think that the situation is out of control now, we need to be concerned about the dangers of superintelligence, which will make these already real risks even worse. That is why we should stop the development of superintelligence before it is too late. People who have worked in the AI sector, not just the socialist in Stormont, have warned about the risks to humanity from superintelligent AI. They have talked about human extinction. That is the gravity of what we are talking about. AI has paved the way for a new era of misogyny. Chatbots parrot sexist tropes. Software is used to discriminate against women who apply for jobs. Dating apps make it easier than ever to harass women, not to mention how dangerous those apps and chatbots are for people with mental illness, as has been mentioned. Some people have been encouraged to commit suicide by those apps, which is horrendous. The feminist writer Laura Bates explains that, although deepfakes are a new form of abuse, the underlying power dynamics are as old as time. The statistics are stark: 96% of deepfakes are non-consensual pornography, and 99% of that material features women. The way in which AI is being weaponised against women and children can be understood only in the context of the oppressive capitalist system that we live under. Unfortunately, men have been abusing women for thousands of years. They have been enabled by a society that oppresses women and subjects every one of us to repressed, alienated lives. AI has not created misogyny, as others have suggested: it has just given it new tools and unprecedented reach. At this time, I warn against Executive Ministers running ahead with AI in a general sense because it is being promoted across the board, not only because of its harms but because it is a bubble that is likely to burst quite soon. The Executive talk about their investment in programmes to tackle violence against women and girls. However, £3·2 million spread across multiple initiatives is a drop in the ocean compared with the scale of the crisis. While the big parties pat themselves on the back for their minimal funding, perpetrators continue to abuse and degrade women and girls online with impunity. It is abundantly clear that we cannot expect the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and the owners of the other big tech companies to willingly subject themselves to more scrutiny and moderation, but the British and Irish Governments have not exactly been quick to act, either. The Member to my right asked how that can be allowed to happen. It is a fair question. It is because Governments are beholden to those companies in particular. In some cases, they base their entire economies on supporting those AI systems. Like many, I use social media, although I would prefer not to; I would rather go back to the old Nokia systems, which were referred to. Other companies exist. Social media companies have hugely damaged our collective public health in pursuit of profit. They have purposely exacerbated the crisis of violence and harm against women in order to line their pockets. They dangerously change algorithms to silence voices and bolster the far right. They will stop at nothing for profit. Only strong legal and regulatory action will curb online violence. Democratising and breaking up those huge organisations is part of the equation, too. My colleagues in the South are introducing a Bill in the Dáil that would crack down on recommender algorithms, especially for under-18s. Those algorithms pump the feeds of children and young people full of harmful, toxic content that promotes self-harm, eating disorders, misogyny, racism, homophobia and transphobia. A recent study found that, terrifyingly, 10 male-identified accounts of young people on 10 blank smartphones were all fed anti-feminist and other extremist content in just 23 minutes — and we wonder where the hate comes from. Within three hours, the vast majority of recommended content was toxic, mainly alpha male and anti-feminist material, with, unfortunately, Andrew Tate's featuring heavily. Obviously, that is about keeping people on the apps, which is their primary goal. I support today's motion, but we need far more transformational change that holds giant tech corporations to account, protects our children from algorithmic manipulation and builds a society in which women's liberation is the norm, not the exception.

825 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:31 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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