Speeches by Darlington.

“It flows really well from the question Chi just asked you. I want to bring you back to space. Space command is probably the least developed chapter in the SDR. I have had the pleasure of seeing much of our capacity in that area. There seem to be two schools of thought. One is that we are behind, so we will just rely on…”

“One of our previous strengths in science, science diplomacy and science soft power was our strength in regulation and standards, being able to influence ISO standards. It goes right back to when we drew up the oceans and decided who was responsible and what was territorial to whom, which has obviously had a huge impact…”

“Thank you so much for having me, Chair. It is really interesting how similar these conversations are across Committees. I also had the opportunity to guest on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. We are all talking about the same thing, and so are parents, which is not surprising. You have already mentioned that we …”

“That is a really interesting point.”

“Absolutely. My second question is about deepfake porn. We talk about the gaps in the law, and potentially BBFC regulation, but deepfake porn is not actually within that categorisation. We heard last time that 95% of deepfake porn is not of celebrities, but of classmates, the woman down the road and others. Is that pote…”

“During our inquiry on the SIT Committee about online misinformation, we heard from both Ofcom and the Minister for online safety, who sits in DSIT, but very clearly the BBFC sits in DCMS. Do you think that a cross-Government role is needed, and potentially somebody at a more senior level rather than a quite junior mini…”

“I have a second question in a different vein. The Palantir service, we heard, is very good at sorting data to ensure that you could get patient cohorts and other sorts of identifiers. What is the regulation around academic researchers using those platforms and data to do their work? On what basis do we make that kind o…”

“I have two questions. The first builds on Kit’s point. One of the biggest barriers to adoption of technologies is the GP network, which from the public’s perspective is our first point of contact with the NHS. What are you doing to get the digital strategy adopted at GP level and integrating GP practices into the infor…”

“You have contracts in the NHS, defence and now in education.”

“Given the Trump Administration’s closeness to the digital and AI sector in the US, Trump’s personal intervention in banning states from having regulation in this area and his very different approach from us in terms of data management, online safety and all those sorts of things, how does a company like Palantir manage…”

“How would you respond to this? Palantir is a US firm and there are some very big differences in approach to public services in the US and the UK. Some unflattering comments have been made by the chief exec about our citizens and their relationship to the NHS—calling it Stockholm syndrome. Given that you grew up in the …”

“I think you get my point: the criticisms that have been laid, and the potential risk to our ambitions and how we further develop those public services for our citizens.”

“Do you think that there is a risk of Government dependency on your company, given that it permeates lots of other services, or is that an advantage because they are using a similar platform across different services?”

“Gavin has very well explored the harmful nature of some of these chatting platforms, particularly the encrypted ones attached to platforms whose content might be applicable to children. The activity that happens in those chatrooms may not be safe for children. I have a wider concern. We talk about age verification, yet…”

“You have effectively described the gap here, which is that, yes, the algorithm is a contributing force, but it is the behaviour of posters and the ability to then bring in bots, which is currently not considered illegal online. Therefore, Ofcom has no direct powers, even though we know that it is harmful. In an offline…”

“If you do not have that expertise, would it be a solution to put online video content under the same regulation as movies, television and games? Video games are under the same thing. There is a regulator that does that.”

“Sorcha and I have both experienced pile-ons from exactly the same source, shall we say, and it is not a pleasant experience. One of the things that I am quite keen on understanding in terms of Ofcom’s role and what Ofcom can do is that these pile-ons are not just one man with a particular fixation. It is their ability …”

“Does the Minister agree that the strength of Northern Ireland’s tech sector means that it can play a huge part in becoming an AI superpower, supported by this Government? However, as we have heard in the Northern Ireland Committee, chaired by my hon. Friend the Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi), there is a huge link …”

“5. What recent discussions he has had with technology businesses on investing in Northern Ireland.”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the issues with the points system is that it does not take gender into account? The assessment process does not understand that there are different issues for women and the physical things that our bodies face. Any changes that we make to the points system or descriptors must inclu…”