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A new survey of Ireland’s compliance community suggests that criminal groups are moving far more quickly than businesses or regulators in exploiting artificial intelligence for unlawful activity.

According to the Compliance Institute, 77 percent of compliance professionals believe organisations and regulators are falling behind those engaged in cyber crime. A further 20 percent feel criminals are at least somewhat ahead in their use of AI-driven tools.

Michael Kavanagh, Chief Executive of the Compliance Institute, said cyber crime has become the most common form of criminal activity in Ireland. He outlined growing concerns around the misuse of AI, including deepfake audio and video, highly convincing forged documents and IDs, and the creation of detailed psychological profiles using publicly available online information.

The survey also explored views on accountability for errors or harmful outcomes linked to AI. Almost one third of respondents believe that the organisations deploying these technologies bear primary responsibility when something goes wrong. By contrast, only a minority felt liability rests mainly with AI developers or regulators. Over half of those surveyed argued that responsibility should be shared among all relevant parties.

Mr Kavanagh noted that there has not yet been a definitive legal ruling on where liability sits in cases involving AI-related errors. However, he emphasised that companies are obligated to ensure robust systems and safeguards are in place. This includes regular staff training, active oversight and continuous testing of AI tools rather than delegating critical tasks entirely to automated systems.

He warned that organisations which fail to maintain effective human oversight expose themselves to reputational damage, financial loss and growing regulatory enforcement under the emerging EU AI Act.

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