Professor Alan Smeaton:

We came up with four recommendations on the use of various forms of generative AI, particularly in the education sector. The first is that the guidelines to be produced at national level or even down to the level of individual schools should be co-ordinated and consistent. They should not conflict with each other. The second recommendation – and, possibly, the strongest - is that there should be serious investment in the uptake of AI literacy. No one course covers AI literacy for everybody because this material must be nuanced for whomever is the recipient. The third recommendation is that there should be equitable access to AI resources. Members of the committee have previously pointed to unequal access. There should be equal access to AI resources, no matter what kind of school someone is in or their social or demographic background. Everyone should have equal access to these AI tools. The fourth recommendation is to have a national conversation. It is great to see activity such as that in which the committee is engaged - and not just the appearance of newspaper articles such as that to which the Deputy referred about Estonia and the use of AI – in the context of fostering a national conversation on the use of AI in education. It has been slow to start but it is picking up speed.