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ADVERTISEMENTThe Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has said it needs more money to carry out additional tasks it now handles, including oversight of the EU AI Act.
The AI Act – which regulates the technology according to the risk it poses to society – has already entered into force, but as of 2 August all member states need to appoint an oversight authority to ensure companies’ compliance with the rules.
In its annual report published Thursday, the DPC said that “in light of new responsibilities and a significantly additional workload for the DPC as a result of the AI Act and other digital regulations […] it is critical that we continue to receive funding increases enabling the expansion of our workforce.”
“The Government’s continuing support will be critical to the DPC’s ability to meet its EU wide responsibilities and the delivery of effective regulation in support of the digital economy,” it added.
This year, the Irish already dealt with several AI questions, stemming from the launch of chatbot tools such as X’s Grok and Meta AI. As the lead authority for Meta, it ordered the company to halt the tool last year due to concerns about the use of personal data of users of Facebook and Instagram to train its large language models (LLMs).
Euronews reported in May that – with months to go until the deadline – in at least half of the 27 member states, it remains unclear which authority will be nominated as AI oversight body. In addition, countries need to adopt an implementing law that sets out penalties and that empower their watchdogs. Not all of them have yet done so.
The Irish watchdog is currently overseeing the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Ireland, including those of the global big tech companies that registered their EU headquarters in Dublin.
It received some 11,091 new cases and resolved 10,510 ones, the report said. It gathered a total of €652 million in fines.
Its staff increased from 213 in early 2024 to 251 as of 1 January.
