‘Immediate, co-ordinated’ approach to AI needed across government – report

By Bairbre Holmes, Press Association

An “immediate, co-ordinated, all-of-government approach” is needed on the issue of Artificial Intelligence (AI), a government committee has found.

Delivering its first report, the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence said this should be led by the national AI Office, which is due to be up and running by August next year.

It said the office should be independent and have the right technical experts and resourcing to make sure there were no conflicts between how businesses and the State used AI and regulations that governed the technology.

It recommended the office should have advisory panels to work with young people, older people and disabled people, to help guarantee that AI systems and tools did not filter out voices from marginalised groups.

The committee made 85 recommendations in total including that the Government establish a Citizens’ Assembly on AI, develop a national AI risk register and launch a national AI literacy education campaign from primary schools to workplaces.

It also said the courts should be “resourced to have the expertise necessary to determine and deliberate on defects within AI systems”, and that operators and tech companies must be legally obliged to ensure their products, platforms and systems were designed to be safe for children.

The report said: “Just because something can be done using AI doesn’t mean it should be.”

It added that decisions relating to AI should be “rooted in human rights” and “should reflect the values we want enshrined in our society”.

The committee cathaoirleach Malcolm Byrne said: “The committee is working in a collaborative way to consider the potential benefits and risks associated with it (AI) and to explore how Ireland can lead in this space.

“We do not believe that regulation and innovation are mutually exclusive, and we are looking to strike the right balance.”