Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When the Deputy and I last discussed this topic, in May, we talked about how artificial intelligence holds transformative potential for workplaces in Ireland and what we are doing to ensure that workers of all types have the skills needed to meet challenges around displacement and opportunities to enhance their roles via artificial intelligence.

Al is also promising to transform how education is delivered by our tertiary system. It can help to make learning much more personalised to meet student needs. It can also adjust lessons and materials to individual’s learning styles and speeds, helping to ensure that students who need extra support receive it. AI platforms can analyse large amounts of data, giving insights into how students are performing and how effective institutions are.

10 o’clock

This can help improve courses, increase student retention and improve student performance. There are benefits but we also need to think about ethics, data privacy and the risk of bias in AI systems to ensure they are fair for everyone.

Safeguarding academic and research integrity is, of course, also a priority. Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, has recently closed a public consultation on its White Paper on academic integrity assessing both the challenges and opportunities from the use of AI tools by students, learners and researchers. I highlighted the importance of being proactive in shaping Ireland’s response to artificial intelligence in my remarks at an event on skills in the digital age at the Institute of International and European Affairs last week. The refreshing and updating of the 2021 national AI strategy, AI - Here for Good, provides an opportunity to examine how best to enable the transformation of Ireland’s tertiary education system driven by AI adoption.

See this speech in context