Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I certainly welcome the opportunity to second this motion in the House. I thank the Minister of State for being here and for his sterling work in the area in appointing Dr. Patricia Scanlon as AI ambassador, and in other initiatives he has taken such as the establishment of the enterprise digital advisory forum, the AI innovation hub, and of course joining the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence. This is all very valuable and important work. Artificial intelligence raises very important and urgent questions for all of us as legislators and for wider society. Of course, artificial intelligence is already with us. It is not a concept we are looking at in the future. It is changing the information we receive, the choices we make and the ways in which our societies function. There is no doubt that in the coming years, AI will play an even greater role in how governments and public institutions operate, and in how citizens interact and participate in the democratic process. AI is an opportunity to improve the democratic process in our societies. For example, it can help citizens to gain a better understanding of politics and engage more easily in democratic debate. Likewise, it can aid all of us as politicians to get even closer to citizens, understand where they are at, and hopefully represent them more effectively. Such an alignment between citizens and politicians could change the face of electoral campaigns and considerably improve the policy-making process by making it more accurate and efficient. However, there are very significant risks associated with AI from a democratic perspective. AI has the potential, as outlined by my colleague, Senator Byrne, to operate as a powerful tool for disinformation and misinformation and we all have to be acutely aware of the hugely negative and divisive impact that these can have on the body politic. Notwithstanding the risks, and having spoken to experts in the area, AI could prove useful to democracies if proper safeguards were applied. I understand specific tools can be deployed to detect the use of AI-generated content and techniques such as watermarking can be used to clearly indicate that contents have been generated by AI. AI systems are also increasingly being used as part of risk management strategies such as in electoral content moderation. Social media platforms are also increasingly using AI systems to detect suspicious patterns in content before elections. All of this is important and in this way AI systems can make a valuable contribution to the detection of fake news and to support citizens in reaching informed, factual-based opinions.

In my role as leader of the Irish delegation to the Council of Europe, I have engaged with this issue on an international level. This is obviously far more than just an Irish issue. It is an issue that requires a collaborative regulatory approach right across the globe. The Council of Europe is mobilising to develop norms that are adapted to the challenges encountered, including a framework convention on artificial intelligence. Most Council of Europe committees, intergovernmental bodies and specialised bodies, as well as its monitoring structures, are considering the impact of AI on their fields of activity and it is important as a State and as a Government that we engage fully in that process. This is one of the three priorities I recommended as rapporteur for the fourth Council of Europe summit last May and was accepted and adopted by all 47 member states.

As party spokesperson on education, I am especially intrigued by AI's potential benefit to our educational provision. AI has a variety of algorithmic applications in education such as personalised learning systems to promote student learning; automated assessment systems to support teachers in evaluating what students know; and facial recognition systems to provide insights about learner behaviours. Besides those platforms, algorithmic systems are prominent in education through different social media outlets such as social network sites, microblogging systems and mobile applications. These AI systems can increase the capacity of educational systems and support the social and cognitive development of students and teachers. Therefore, there is certainly huge scope for AI to improve our education systems, not just in Ireland but around the world, however there are significant risks associated with AI in education.The biggest risks associated with integrating these algorithms in educational contexts are perpetuating existing systemic bias and discrimination; perpetuating unfairness, affecting students mostly from disadvantaged and marginalised groups; and amplifying racism, sexism, xenophobia and other forms of injustice and inequity. Academics point out that algorithms do not occur in a vacuum but, rather, shape and are shaped by ever-evolving cultural, social, institutional and political forces and structures. There is a concern that over-reliance could have negative impacts.

It is welcome that we are having this debate. I know it is going to be very difficult to regulate in this area. As the Minister of State accepts, it is really important to have a strong regulatory framework at national and international levels that will harness the potential of AI but also absolutely protect society from the potential pitfalls.