Mr. Liam Herrick:

We note that this has come up in the committee's sessions with some of the groups representing older people and people with disabilities. The question of access to technology becomes much exasperated if public sector delivery is primarily through digital means. This is one of the challenges in this area. The digital divide can greatly impact on people in that context. Cost has a broader sense as well. One of the areas we believe has not been given sufficient attention so far is the very high energy costs associated with artificial intelligence, the data associated with it, the impact that can have on energy supply and ultimately on the environment, and whether that cost is ultimately to be absorbed by the general public or those who might suffer the negative consequences from it. We understand the digital divide question, but we are also concerned older people and disabled people might be negatively impacted by the technology itself, particularly in how some of the technology is trained in a way that might exclude them.