Results 81-100 of 10,711 for speaker:Niamh Smyth

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: To be frank, that will have to be worked out.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: As a said, we are taking a risk-based approach and using the EU AI Act to ensure we do that. Within the sandbox I am talking about-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: To answer the Deputy's question, the sandbox that we are devising is a regulatory sandbox and will be within our own office. We will have a regulatory piece in place, which should ensure that the sandbox does not pose a risk to citizens.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: If there are additional tools, I will get that information to Deputy Gibney. As I said, and I do not mean to repeat myself, my understanding of the sandbox is that it will allow for that innovation and creativity piece, ensuring we are doing it-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: -----within the confines of the law and that we are taking the risk-based approach of the EU Act with which we are all working.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: On the Senator’s question on public ownership, it is incredibly important to bring the public with us in this debate on AI to ensure we do not leave a cohort of people behind. I am referring to much more than enterprise and trade. On the governance structure, and as the Senator knows, we have adapted a distributive model for the implementation of the AI Act, and that is in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: A huge public awareness campaign is needed to ensure people are aware of the AI technologies, their capabilities and how they can be used for fraud and to fool people. ADAPT and one of the colleges here in Dublin are working on an AI literacy and transformation campaign that will target older people specifically to ensure we do not leave that cohort behind. The AI advisory council puts a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: The biggest risk is that we will not get them on the transformational train, given that it will run with or without them and us, and that businesses will be unaware of the funding streams supports that may be available through LEOs, Skillnet and Enterprise Ireland. There are supports and funding in all of those Government agencies but the biggest threat is that people in the SME sector will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: I thank the Deputy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: The most important part of Ireland’s response to the EU AI Act is putting guard rails in place to protect citizens, ensure companies can develop their technology within the rules of the law, and, most important, give certainty to citizens and businesses that use AI tools regarding what they see in front of them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: It is back to that piece of head-in-the-sand where people may feel it does not impact them and does not have a role to play in their industry or in education or retail. If people working in those areas do not see how AI can impact them positively, it may be a question they want to park to one side and feel that it does not affect them. It is a body of work for me, the Department, and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: Yes, the role of the national AI office will be in oversight and governance. The sectoral agencies will feed into that. That expertise with the regulators we have established in Ireland will feed into the national AI office and will give their expertise in developing that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: It is a balance we have to strike, and it is a big ask to ensure we do that but we have to send a very clear message to those in the business of AI such as the creators, the small start-ups and the scale-up businesses that Ireland is not going to create regulation that will stifle business in anyway and that we have a risk-based approach that is proportionate in how we create that regulation...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: I am picking up different views across the board. Some people see it as light regulation; others feel it is stifling. That is my job and I take that responsibility. It is hugely important. As the Deputy will know, the Draghi report, which was published some months ago, acknowledges the fact that across the EU regulation has had a tendency to be very bureaucratic and to hold people back...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: There are a number things happening. One of CeADAR's roles is to provide advice and support to companies interested in developing AI and in bringing AI tools into their business. The Department itself is working with Government agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, local enterprise offices and digital hubs. This cannot be done by one particular agency. It is going to take a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: I apologise if I was not clear about this in my initial remarks. It is to be a stand-alone entity. While it is hosted by my Department, it will be a stand-alone entity in how it is established and how it is created and will have oversight of all sectors, not just enterprise. It will include education and all those other sectors we have discussed during the meeting. It will have key...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: I am sorry if I was not clear about it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: Of course, I would. It is important that we provide support. Enterprise Ireland is the agency that will support, fund and develop those companies. It is important that we respond to the Draghi report in a meaningful way, that is, that we do not stifle innovation. The Department, along with the ESRI and National Competitiveness and Productivity Council, is undertaking research on the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: The regional enterprise groupings have a role to play in all of this. The Deputy is right. Some LEOs have a digital hub within their area. My county has one of those. County Cavan has a LEO. It works in tandem with the digital hub. It is something we need replicate. We have quite a few digital hubs around the country at this point. They are working in tandem with IDA Ireland,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Niamh Smyth: The Senator is right that this is a digital divide in the sense there are a cohort of people who are not as proficient with digitalisation and, therefore, they are not proficient with AI. We will have a body of work to do to bring those people along. At a more granular level, our ETBs have a part to play in closing that gap. There is no doubt the sandbox will be for the highly proficient...