Dr. Patricia Scanlon:

As for the role, there is an AI advisory council in the US. There was also one in the UK that was disbanded two governments ago. There is an example of one in Sweden. They are popping up more and more. Some of them are political appointees and they are not necessarily experts. Our one is unique in some respects in that it was divided up so that everybody here could bring a different expertise in AI to the council. To be honest, it could have been 25 people, if we were bring expertise from so many different areas. We had to try to contain it. Even at that, 15 is a lot. In terms of the evolution of where it should be, Ms Riordan referred to the idea of a central AI office. We will all have different opinions but I think it should sit in the Department of the Taoiseach. It should be full time. These are people who work. We have talked about all the things this council should be doing. As Mr. Blanchfield said, we are not at work.

It needs to be an AI office that is staffed and resourced, sits in the Department of the Taoiseach, is across government and is a centralised place that is the final word on how things are done. AI will be implemented across government. There will be AI issues in society, the workplace or wherever. It needs to be governed. We are seeing that in different countries where there are cross-government bodies. In France, for example, there is more or less an AI office, with responsibility and funding and so on, that sits in a more centralised location and has influence across all departments.