Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Guím gach rath ar mo chomhghleacaí, an Teachta Smyth, as ucht a ceapacháin mar Aire Stáit le freagracht as intleacht shaorga. Táim ag súil go mór le hobair léi amach anseo agus muid ag dul i ngleic leis an gclaochlú a chruthóidh an intleacht shaorga inár sochaí agus inár ngeilleagar. I look forward to working with the Minister of State in her new role. I congratulate her on her appointment.

I am pleased to contribute to the debate Dáil Éireann is having on the role of artificial intelligence, the advent of which has been rightly compared to the industrial revolution due to its transformative potential, as has been said by other Deputies. We live in an era when the word "efficiency" dominates political discourse at times. We often hear that the State must do more with less, streamline services and maximise output while minimising costs. While no one can doubt that efficiency is important, our ultimate goal should be an effective State, that is, one that does not just do things faster or more cheaply but that does them better. As other Deputies have referenced, AI will be crucial in achieving this effectiveness. Ireland must strategically position itself to harness AI for future prosperity. We have a strong foundation in last year's refreshed AI strategy. I pay tribute to the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, and the Minister, Deputy Calleary, for their work on this important brief in the last Dáil.

The European Commission has identified this decade as the digital decade and Irish businesses are rising to that challenge, as highlighted in a recent report by Strand Partners and Amazon. According to that report, 54% of Irish businesses surveyed stated that AI had become more important for them. From 2022 to 2023, the number of Irish companies adopting AI increased by a quarter, reaching 34%. Notably, almost three quarters of those businesses are using what are called large language models or generative AI. That is well ahead of the European average. The share of AI talent in Ireland grew by a factor of five between 2016 and 2022 according to research led by the IDA in its labour market pulse. Our AI strategy should support and encourage this innovation.

In my first speech to this Chamber, I stated that the world of work is changing rapidly. The jobs that our children will do have not yet been conceived of. Before entering this House, I worked as a data scientist, an occupation that did not exist when I was filling out my CAO form. As we think of the impact of AI on the labour market, there are certainly some jobs that will be disrupted. However, there are also many roles that will be augmented and others that will be largely insulated. There is value in identifying these different types of roles, as was done in research carried out by LinkedIn, and in planning for how to respond positively to these disruptive effects.

Ireland's greatest asset has always been the talent of our people. As a State, we have excelled in skilling, training and educating our people. This role is even more crucial in today's labour market. Only a quarter of the businesses surveyed for the report I mentioned find it easy to hire staff with good digital skills. To address this, we must embed foundational digital skills in our population. This is an EU-wide challenge, as highlighted by Mario Draghi in his competitiveness report. Fortunately, Ireland has achieved 73% basic digital skills coverage, which can be compared with the EU average of 56%. The transformative impact of AI will also place a unique and important emphasis on the need for interpersonal and human skills such as problem solving, critical thinking and teamwork. We must not lose sight of that.

B'ábhar dóchais dom a fheiceáil go raibh sé beartaithe ag Údarás na Gaeltachta tograí a chur ar fáil a bhainfidh leas as AI. Ina meas siúd beidh ardáin agus uirlisí a chuirfidh seirbhísí agus comhairle ar ardchaighdeán ar fáil as Gaeilge, cúrsaí oiliúna maidir le hintleacht shaorga agus an Ghaeilge agus fiontraíocht in earnáil na hintleachta saorga sa Ghaeltacht a spreagadh.

As other Deputies mentioned, all this needs to be built on a robust regulatory bedrock of transparency, accountability and inclusivity. Global standards, as proposed by the Global Partnership on AI and the OECD, and initiatives that come from industry such as those taken by Inspec.ai, a start-up company supported and funded by the NDRC in Ireland, are crucial for responsible AI development and adoption. Inclusion needs to be at the top of our minds. Studies show that women are 20% less likely to have used ChatGPT compared with men in similar occupations. We need to ensure there is no gender gap in the adoption and use of AI. We also need to consider older people who may not be as familiar with digital technologies.

Like all technologies, AI should be our servant rather than our master. We need to support our businesses as they continue to embrace innovation. We need to set our people up for success by equipping them with the skills they need to harness the potential of AI and we need to build this approach on a robust foundation of transparency, accountability and inclusivity. I look forward to being part of that debate.

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