Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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142. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the Government’s plans to combat the use of artificial intelligence chatbots used to mimic individuals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11448/23]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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National policy around the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in Ireland is guided by our National AI Strategy, AI – Here for Good.This strategy sets out our commitment to the use of artificial intelligence technologies in a way which will benefit our economy and society, by taking a people-centred, ethical approach to their development, adoption, and use. In recognition of the wide-ranging effect AI will have on our lives, the Strategy considers AI from a number of perspectives, including building public trust in AI, leveraging AI for economic and societal benefit, and looking at key enablers for AI.

The AI Strategy also calls for a robust governance framework to safeguard against risk and to build trust in AI. To that end, my Department convened a Working Group on Trustworthy AI Principles and Guidelines last year. This group brings together experts in the area of artificial intelligence, and representatives of Government Departments, with a view to agreeing an accessible set of principles and parameters for the deployment of trustworthy and ethical AI in the public sector. This work is ongoing.

The NSAI is developing a roadmap for AI standards and certification which will be published shortly. This is an important step in providing tools for businesses and citizens to assess the trustworthiness of AI solutions, including chatbots.

The governance and regulation of AI technologies is soon to be regulated by the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA), which is currently under negotiation. This Regulation will set out harmonised rules for the development, placement on the market and use of AI systems in the Union. The AIA takes a proportionate, risk-based approach, where certain particularly harmful AI practices are prohibited, while specific restrictions and safeguards are proposed in relation to high-risk AI systems in areas such as employment, the use of biometrics, law enforcement, etc. The regulation will apply to the developer, provider and user of AI and aims to address the risks generated by specific uses of AI through a set of complementary, proportionate, and flexible rules.

My Department is leading on these negotiations and will be responsible for the implementation of this regulation into domestic law.

A chatbot is a computer program that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to understand questions from customers and provide automated responses to them. In this way, chatbots appear to be simulating human conversation. AI technologies are increasingly being deployed to transform business operations, and chatbots are just one example of AI being used to improve business processes.

It is important that the use of all AI tools, including chatbots, is undertaken with proper levels of transparency and governance. When taken all together, the Artificial Intelligence Act, and the ongoing implementation of our national AI Strategy, will ensure a strong regulatory environment for trustworthy, ethical AI in Ireland.