Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A huge public awareness campaign is needed to ensure people are aware of the AI technologies, their capabilities and how they can be used for fraud and to fool people.

ADAPT and one of the colleges here in Dublin are working on an AI literacy and transformation campaign that will target older people specifically to ensure we do not leave that cohort behind. The AI advisory council puts a specific focus on building public trust around AI. That is certainly a responsibility that I take very seriously. Experts from the council have participated in hundreds of public engagements, as the Senator knows. As she quite rightly said, there has to be a much broader approach in respect of the national AI office. I do not think we can focus solely on enterprise and trade; rather, we must also take justice into consideration and how AI tools can assist gardaí in policing. We must also consider how we can assist teachers and children in education. The digital strategy for schools for the period to 2027 refers to embedding digital skills and including AI at school level. That is happening through the Department of education. I am sorry for repeating myself but the officials present, although focused on enterprise, are engaging with the other relevant Departments.

The ADAPT Research Ireland centre at Dublin City University, in partnership with TU Dublin, has secured significant national funding to lead Ireland’s first dedicated AI literacy campaign for older adults. The initiative will target about 60,000 older people. We should also remember the great work that CeADAR does. Not everybody may know about the CeADAR office or the European digital hubs, so we have a body of work to do in ensuring we create the necessary public awareness and, in doing so, create public trust.