MEP Mullooly defends use of AI in Gaza letter to von der Leyen

Midlands Northwest MEP Ciaran Mullooly has defended his use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the generation of part of a letter to EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen.

The letter with the subject line 'Gaza's Children, Europe's Values, and the Commission's Duty to Act' was published on MEP Mullooly's website on Tuesday.

In the letter, the former RTE Midlands Correspondent submits seven proposals, which he suggests “the Commission might wish to assess in determining its most effective response to support UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations”.

MEP Mullooly said today that this part of the letter was generated using AI. He said he had asked his staff to look into what was within the Commission's remit to do regarding the crisis in Gaza without the need for member support, and what emerged was 25 pages of research.

“We had to summarise it, and we said what about AI, so it is a summary of the research that was done and it is all referenced and cross-checked,” he said, adding that he was adamant that it had to be referenced.

“I checked it myself,” added MEP Mullooly.

The second part of the letter contains the fictional story of a 12-year-old girl called Gazi, who is living in a makeshift shelter in Rafah.

MEP Mullooly said AI was not used in this part of the letter, but rather Gazi's story is a summary of the stories he receives emails about from people based in Gaza, and also people all over Ireland, who are distressed that people are still dying.

“The second part of the letter is not AI. It is based on over 1,000 emails we have received. We have been inundated with emails. It is fictional. It recalls the details given to me in emails. We have read every email we got on Gaza,” said MEP Mullooly.

This part of the letter quotes the Swedish House Mafia song Don't You Worry Child, with MEP Mullooly posing the question: “Will you tell her, 'Don't you worry, don't you worry child, see heaven's got a plan for you'?”

In relation to this, MEP Mullooly explained that that subject line of one of the emails he received on Gaza was 'Don't you worry, God will create a plan for you'. He said he was unaware of the Swedish House Mafia reference, and asked a staff member, who explained the song was about the vulnerability of children.

“I make no apology for using AI. Where it is cross-referenced and checked, I don't see a problem. The technique we chose (in telling Gazi's story) was perhaps not the most transparent.

"If I was doing it again, I would put a footnote stating the first part of the letter was summarised using AI, and the monologue part was fictional,” he said.

“The monologue was written based on a summary of communications we had received from parents and UN staff who had witnessed it,” he added.

“Apart from agriculture and farming, this is the only thing that fills our inboxes. People are distressed at the slaughter of innocent children.”

“The technique we used was a monologue, and it was emotive. It's the story of 15,000 children now,” said the Midlands Northwest MEP.

In relation to the use of AI in the course of his work as an MEP, Ciaran Mullooly said: “I have used AI in the past for the summary of documents.

"Anything I used is referenced and cross-checked. I see it, under controlled circumstances, as useful, particularly in the summary of documents."