Name: Mason Hayes & Curran's Brian McElligott on how the EU is gunning for AI by Tech Radio Ireland
Duration: 35 min 39 s
Description: This weeks stories include Tik Tok getting its first official outright ban, the Data Protection Commissioner is about to levy a record fine on Meta and some really nice tips for tech toy bargains. Speaking with Niall Kitson about the Artificial Intelligence Act is Brian McElligott, partner and head of the AI law team at Mason Hayes & Curran.

This weeks stories include Tik Tok getting its first official outright ban, the Data Protection Commissioner is about to levy a record fine on Meta and some really nice tips for tech toy bargains. Speaking with Niall Kitson about the Artificial Intelligence Act is Brian McElligott, partner and head of the AI law team at Mason Hayes & Curran.

Tech Radio Ireland

Mason Hayes & Curran's Brian McElligott on how the EU is gunning for AI

Ireland's territorial waters are among Europe's largest, yet monitoring this vast maritime expanse for unauthorized vessels, environmental threats, and infrastructure protection remains an enormous challenge with current surveillance technologies.

Professor Marco Ruffini and Dr. John Kennedy from Trinity College Dublin have developed Sea-Scan, a revolutionary system that transforms existing undersea telecommunications cables into comprehensive acoustic monitoring networks. Using distributed acoustic sensing and AI, their technology can detect and classify vessels across hundreds of kilometers of ocean using just one land-based device.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

●	Transforming existing fiber optic cables into underwater sensor networks
●	AI detection of "dark vessels" that disable identification beacons
●	Unique acoustic signatures for different vessel classifications
●	Marine ecosystem monitoring and shipping noise impact assessment
●	Real-time infrastructure protection from accidental damage
●	Cost-effective surveillance across Ireland's vast territorial waters


GUEST DETAILS

Professor Marco Ruffini is Associate Professor and Fellow of Trinity College Dublin and Principal Investigator of both the CONNECT Telecommunications Research Centre and the IPIC Photonics Integration Centre. He specializes in optical network architecture at the Department of Computer Science and Statistics,  focusing on converged metro/access network architecture, long-reach passive optical networks, and inter-data center connectivity. His expertise spans over two decades in optical communications and fiber sensing technologies. 

Dr. John Kennedy is Associate Professor in Vibrations, Acoustics and Dynamics at Trinity College Dublin. His current research centers on the use of advanced additive manufacturing techniques to design and fabricate novel acoustic metamaterials for environmental noise control. His research focuses on acoustics, noise control, aeroacoustics, additive manufacturing, and metamaterials, making him uniquely positioned to interpret underwater acoustic signals.

MORE INFORMATION

You can learn more about the Sea-Scan project and other cutting-edge research at Trinity College Dublin's ADAPT Centre here: www.adaptcentre.ie/

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the ADAPT Centre

QUOTES

Having this many sensors in this environment helps us monitor activity that's happening in our waters. - John Kennedy 

Just by placing one device at one end of the fiber, I had a microphone every meter, so I can get a different sound every meter for all the 100 kilometers just with one device at one end. - Marco Ruffini 

This technology gives you a kind of unparalleled resolution of sensors underwater. It allows you to investigate questions that you know are very important for various different reasons. -  John Kennedy 

You won't believe how often fiber gets cut due to digging... you could detect the noise of the vehicle that's trying to dig, and you could contact them, maybe 10 to 15 minutes in advance. - Marco Ruffini

One of the exciting things about working in acoustics is that it sort of touches all aspects of human activity and also our daily lives." - John Kennedy


KEYWORDS

#distributedacousticsensing #marinesurveillance #fiberoptics #underwateracoustics #AImonitoring


Sea-Scan Maritime AI Technology

This week Apple continues its war with the EU over the Digital Markets Act, the entertainment industry continues its war with AI, and Asahi goes to war after a cyber attack brings its business to a halt. Plus HP Ireland country manager Neil Dover talks about technology and culture in the workplace.

HP's Neil Dover on the power of workplace culture

This week Niall and Dusty unpack Budget 2025's spending commitments, ask when the AI bubble will burst, and wonder why anyone would want to reanimate the dead through deep fakes. Finally, we explore why hosting your data in orbit might be a brilliant idea.Plus, Microsoft national technology officer Kieran McCorry talks about how the workplace is changing in with the advent of AI and why Gen Z is using it less than their elders.

The AI bubble we know is about the burst, and Microsoft's Kieran McCorry on Gen Z and AI

Windows 10 is finally being killed off by Microsoft. We look at what you can do and what Microsoft's strategy is going forward. We also check out the all new M5 chip from Apple, and dig into a surprise move from Google to make nice with the EU over the Digital Markets Act. Plus, we have a fascinating chat about AI in the workplace with Lisa Hunt, microsoft practice director at Viatel Technology Group.

Microsoft says goodbye to Windows 10 and Viatel Technology Group's Lisa Hunt on doing AI right

This week we have the really mundane reason for Monday’s massive AWS outage. Closer to home, an AI-generated deepfake video showed an Irish election candidate withdrawing from the race, complete with a convincing fake Sharon Ní Bheoláin presenting it on RTÉ News. The question everyone’s asking: who made it, and how do we stop this becoming the new normal? Plus, we’ll look at why your driving licence is going digital by 2030.

Grace Dinan from JunieXR on live extended reality

When your AI agent books a rental car, it needs your driver's license, credit card, calendar access and permission to message your contacts—creating what Meredith Whittaker calls "fundamental backdoor" threatening apps like Signal. 

At ADAPT ADVANCE 2025, Signal Foundation President and AI Now Institute co-founder Meredith Whittaker joined Dr Abeba Birhane for a fireside chat dissecting why "bigger is better" serves hyperscaler monopolies not evidence. 

How AI companions weaponise 1970s Eliza manipulation psychology on minors, why "open source AI" became marketing arbitrage exploiting software community goodwill, and what sovereign AI actually requires beyond anxiety signifiers—including democratic governance, trusted local data, and answers to "who owns deployment infrastructure?"
 
THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

* “Bigger is better" AI myth protects hyperscaler monopolies, not users
* Agentic AI demands sweeping permissions creating existential privacy backdoor threats
* AI companions weaponize known psychological manipulation tactics against vulnerable minors
* "Open source AI" exploits software community goodwill without delivering benefits
* Sovereign AI requires democratic governance beyond geopolitical anxiety signaling today

GUEST DETAILS

Meredith Whittaker is President of the Signal Foundation and co-founder of the AI Now Institute—one of the most trusted voices in AI ethics, transparency and accountability. Her decade of work has profoundly shaped ethical AI frameworks, bringing impact from academia to industry.

At Google, Meredith was core organizer for the 2018 Google Walkouts where over 20,000 employees protested military AI use (Project Maven), surveillance, and sexual misconduct—forcing Google to discontinue their military contract and oust implicated VPs.

As AI Now Institute co-founder, her research cuts through AI hype, grounding discussions on what truly matters: power concentration, labour exploitation in AI pipelines, and protecting fundamental rights including privacy and rule of law. 

Her work exposes corporate capture, debunks "bigger is better" myths, reveals sustainability costs, and provides foundational open source research.

Meredith has provided congressional testimony to US Congress and leads Signal—one of the most trusted privacy-friendly messaging apps. Her background building large-scale network measurement systems at Google gives her unique expertise in data quality, evaluation criteria manipulation, and how benchmark gaming serves hyperscaler interests over real-world effectiveness.

Dr Abeba Birhane is founder and director of the AI Accountability Lab at Trinity College Dublin. Her groundbreaking research examines AI datasets, uncovering how larger datasets contain higher hateful content and pornography—debunking "bigger dissipates problems" assumptions. 

Her work on benchmarks and measurement demonstrates that purpose-built smaller models often outperform larger models in real-world contexts with appropriate contextual data.

Connect with the guests:

* Signal Foundation: signal.org
* AI Now Institute: ainowinstitute.org
* AI Accountability Lab: Contact through ADAPT Centre
* Follow their research and writing on AI accountability

MORE INFORMATION

You can learn more about the Sea-Scan project and other cutting-edge research at Trinity College Dublin's ADAPT Centre here: www.adaptcentre.ie/
Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the ADAPT Centre
For more information about ADAPT's groundbreaking AI and data analytics research visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

KEYWORDS

#TrustedAI #AIaccountability #AIprivacy #AIgovernance #MeredithWhittaker

Who owns AI with Meredith Whittaker from Signal

On this week's show we have good news for Microsoft and Nvidia, a new day for OpenAI as a for-profit entity, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties takes it's concern over the latest DPC appointment to Europe, and SpaceX's gift to star gazers. Later, Beta Festival co-founder Aisling Murray talks about what to expect from this year's series of events.

Beta Festival's Aisling Murray on the intersection of art and technology

This week, Collins dictionary reveals its words of the year. We also examine the latest OpenAI-Amazon deal and speculate about what a low-cost Macbook might look like. Plus we find out more about Science Week with Ruth Freeman, director of research for society at Research Ireland.

Research Ireland's Ruth Freeman on Science Week 2025

This week Apple pulls the plug on the iPhone Air, how Cloudflare brought down a fifth of the Internet, crypto has a bad week and trouble at the EU as Ursula von der Leyn falls victim to AI hype.
Plus, Dr Hazel Farrell from SETU talks about how artificial intelligence can be used as a tool rather than a threat to learning.

Air today, gone tomorrow

Technology news from Ireland to the world

Mason Hayes & Curran's Brian McElligott on how the EU is gunning for AI

Tech Radio Ireland

Related tracks