Ms Jane McGarrigle:

I thank the Chair and members of the committee for the opportunity to appear before them today. I am joined by my colleague Ms Tracy Hogan, education officer.

Webwise, which is funded by the Department of Education and Youth and co-funded by the European Union, is the Irish Internet safety awareness centre and part of the Irish Safer Internet Centre. We promote safe, ethical and responsible use of the Internet, provide resources and training for educators, information and advice for parents and guardians and are supported by a youth advisory panel made up of post-primary students from across Ireland. Ahead of today’s meeting, we consulted 14 members of our youth panel and will now present their views.

Most members of the youth panel we consulted were familiar with and regularly used artificial intelligence tools. When asked about the main benefits, access to information, advice and assistance and help with learning and schoolwork ranked highest. When asked what they believe is the biggest benefit for using AI tools, overwhelmingly, members noted the potential for AI tools to assist and support their learning. One respondent noted, “to have access for information easy and fast, if you need a deeper understanding of what ur studying”. They also noted the convenience of these systems and it was noted, “AI gives young people a singular place to access a wide variety of information in a short space of time.”

Among their top concerns were mis- and disinformation, jobs displacement, malicious use such as, for example, deepfakes, and over-reliance of AI tools, with one respondent noting:

I think the threat that deepfakes and impersonation creates is extremely concerning for young people. It's getting so realistic that you can't tell what's real or fake anymore and it could happen to any of us.

As for what they would like to learn, safe and responsible use of AI, data and privacy considerations, critical thinking skills and environmental impact ranked highest with one respondent noting “Internal workings of different types of AI for better understanding of how AI tools work.”

Among their top recommendations were more education in schools on the areas I mentioned and safety by design with appropriate safeguards and strict regulation. When asked what they wish adults understood about how they use AI tools, one respondent noted, “I wish they understood that we don’t just use it for cheating on homework and stuff and that we more use it for educational purposes or entertainment or even advice.” When asked if they could change one thing about Gen AI tools what would that be, they told us they wished it did not use as much water. Other responses were “Make sure they can fact check all information they gather and not spread misinformation”; “Stopping it being marked as a friend i.e. my ai on snapchat”; “Exclude the art element from it, people who spend time making art or digital art are all losing respect and hopes as AI is making it”; “Have more safeguarding in place to ensure malicious information is not being shared and created”; and “That they cannot or would not provide a sense of companionship or create fake unnecessary relationships".

To finish, AI has immense potential to transform many aspects of children and young people's lives but it must be designed safely and ethically and supported by robust regulation. We must also ensure we are preparing children and young people with the skills necessary to benefit from and critically engage with AI tools and systems, and finally, ensure we listen to children and young people on this matter and invest in ongoing research into the opportunities, risks and harms of AI technologies.

Thank you. We welcome any questions the committee may have.