Mr. Pádraig Meade:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to speak on this topic. My project at the BT Young Scientist competition was entitled “An investigation into the uses of artificial intelligence in the modern world and the benefits or problems it might cause”. The project aimed to see how AI is used in day-to-day life, including how it is used in school. The way I was able to tackle this question was by conducting an anonymous survey across the school from all year groups and seeing how students in the school used AI, as well as the potential problems or benefits they believed may arise from using and developing AI in the future.

I was able to get 120 responses to the surveys. My first question was: "Can you explain, in your own words, what artificial intelligence is?" The results from this question were positive overall as almost all of the students shared a common and simple understanding of what AI is. A sample of some of the responses were: “The ability of computers and technology being able to do tasks humans can do”; “Machines that are made to think like humans”; and “The ability of computers and technology being able to do tasks humans can do.” One statistic that did surprise me was that the most common term used in responses was robot. I think this makes sense, however, as AI is typically associated with robots all of the time.

The next question was: “Have you heard of apps such as ChatGPT before?” The results of this question did not surprise me as 95 of the 120 responses, or just shy of 80%, were that they had heard of ChatGPT before. This gave me useful information because one year after the application launched, the majority of people have heard of it.

The next question was: “If selected yes, where have you heard of these apps?” Out of all the responses that were given, social media, and more specifically TikTok, was the most common answer. This might already answer my question as to whether AI has got more media coverage in recent months, as a quick look at Google Trends shows us that the search term “AI” skyrocketed on its website in late 2022 and early 2023. Other popular answers included "friends" or "family".

The next question was: “Do you use any AI websites to help with homework?” The results of this did catch my attention due to how even it was, with an almost perfect 60-60 split. I was expecting the survey to be much more one-sided in terms of the people who do not use AI to help with homework but having a near-even split of the results indicates to me that AI is much more common nowadays than, say, in the last five years.

The next question was: “If selected yes, which subject would you use AI to help you with the most and which AI programme?” Out of all the responses, there were two very clear results to be seen: first, languages such as English, Irish and Spanish were by far the most common subjects where AI was used; and, second, the most popular forms of AI used were translation websites, such as Google Translate and ChatGPT. This made me understand it is more than likely that students were using these AI programmes to help with either translating words from one language to another or essay writing for English.

The next question was: “How does AI help you complete this homework?” My previous point was proven by the responses to this question as the most common answer was to translate or to get answers for the questions. This makes a lot of sense as Google Translate will give a near-perfect translation immediately, whenever asked, and ChatGPT has been known to be able to give detailed answers, whenever asked. The use of these apps is probably so common due to how convenient they are and how quick to give answers, given many people would rather time efficiency when answering a question and not spend too long on a question.

The next question was: “In your opinion, is Artificial Intelligence a good or a bad thing? Explain.” This question was by far the most interesting one answered, in my opinion, as I got to see how my peers felt about AI in modern life. Overall, the results were very similar to how the media portrays AI in life. I believe the following response best sums up people's opinions:

I think that artificial intelligence can be the greatest or worst invention by mankind. I think that if it is controlled and regulated properly it could change all of our lives for the better in an unimaginable way. It has an infinite number of applications in any sector in the world and can infinitely benefit us in our everyday life. I think the positives far outweigh the negatives.

From the results of the survey, I was able to see that a lot of my fellow students had used AI in the past and that the most popular subjects that people used AI for were either languages or more essay-oriented subjects.

From the results of the survey, I was able to see that a lot of my fellow students had used AI in the past and that the most popular subjects that people used AI for were either languages or the more essay-oriented subjects. There was also great awareness shown for how AI has both positive and negative aspects with the clear, most prominent negative being the idea of becoming overly reliant on AI and, thus, not learning. If I was to recommend how AI should be used for education for the future, apps like Duolingo are a great place to start, as the AI can personalise the learning experience for students across all levels and make learning a language easier and less daunting. I also believe that apps like ChatGPT can be utilised efficiently, if the app is seen as a learning tool and not as the complete answer.