Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for giving us time to discuss this very important issue. AI is something that is constantly talked about but I always find when I discuss it with constituents, there tends to be a mix of attitudes. Some people think it will be great and we will be able to save lots of time, while among others there is a mixture of fear and mostly uncertainty about how it will impact them and, as other speakers have highlighted, how it will impact people’s industries and jobs and their children’s futures. What should children study to deal with this future and totally uncertain world? That is one reason I wanted to speak on this topic today. During my time as a lecturer in TU Dublin we encountered the dramatic impact that the arrival of ChatGPT had on us and our students. My colleagues and I were suddenly faced with a situation whereby assignments that would normally take a couple of hours, days or even weeks to research, prepare and write could be done with a few clicks through some online interface. In those early iterations, it was quite easy for me and my colleagues to identify the use of things like ChatGPT. Other artificial intelligence providers are available, as my students discovered. We were able to identify this quite clearly. We have heard about the hallucinations, where it was just completely making stuff up. We could spot those things quite quickly, being experts in our fields. In addition, in the early iterations the language was quite clunky. It struggled, and still struggles – which is why my fellow Deputy wrote his own speech – because they are not very good at Irish English at all and one certainly could not rely on that. However, these tools are increasing in sophistication all the time and that was continuing to be a challenge for us. I welcome, therefore, that the programme for Government includes a plan to develop a policy for dealing with artificial intelligence in the area of education. That is very welcome.

I would also like to highlight the positives. Our students are actually quite smart. After a while, they figured out that they could not just put the stuff in, get it and submit it because we are smart too and could spot it, so they learned how to use the tool. Like many other tools we have and all the new technologies that have come along, it has become a tool that students can use effectively. As many other speakers have noted, our challenge is how we will use this tool effectively in order that we can spend more time focusing on the human tasks and get rid of much of the drudgery, which is effectively what ChatGPT was able to do for so many people.

Obviously education is not the only area of public service in which artificial intelligence can assist us. I see huge potential for increased efficiencies in other areas of the public sector. Something that affects my area in Dublin Rathdown is mobility and movement, which the Minister of State mentioned. It came up at a meeting I held in Mount Merrion last night, where people talked about traffic light sequencing and the frustration with that. It is a big issue because not only are people trying to move around Dublin Rathdown itself but there is also the N11 and the M50 so, in effect, we are a travel-through county. There are many challenges there relating to how we move people around. The frustration expressed by residents last night, which I am sure everyone here has experienced, is that whether one walks, cycles or is in a car or bus, we have all been stopped at junctions where no one seems to be moving at all. As a pedestrian, I have found myself at traffic lights many times and while they say that the lights change automatically when a pedestrian pushes them, that is not the case. It is one of those frustrations. A pilot programme was conducted in the UK to try to use artificial intelligence specifically to improve traffic light sequencing. That is an area where AI could benefit all those who use our roads.

As other Members have pointed out, however, there are also negative consequences and there are concerns. The EU Act is attempting to create a framework around all that for the positive development of technology. I am concerned about the misuse of that technology, such as deepfakes, which put words into someone’s mouth, or misusing people’s images. A piece of legislation that comes to mind, probably because of its name, is the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security, ELVIS, Act which was passed in Tennessee. It attempted to introduce penalties for misuse. Obviously we could not introduce an ELVIS Act - I presume it would have to be the Bono Act - but it is an indicator of the direction of travel we need to take to enhance the positives while at the same time trying to address the potential negative outcomes as well.

I ask the Minister of State, particularly in the area of public service provision, what sort of framework will be developed in order to deliver those public services using AI.

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