A National Youth Assembly on Artificial Intelligence took place on October 12th 2022 at Tangent Ideas Workspace, Trinity College Dublin, hosted by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) in partnership with the National Participation Office.
The Assembly consisted of a diverse group of 41 young people, aged 12 – 24 years from across Ireland. The National Youth Assembly of Ireland sitting delegates were joined by guest delegates from youth organisations.
At the National Youth Assembly on AI, delegates deliberated on the issues affecting young people and provided their recommendations to Minister for State Dara Calleary and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) on the Government’s policy on Artificial Intelligence. The Minister Calleary also heard from the Assembly about the role, impact and understanding of AI in the lives of children and young people, and their opinions, thoughts and possible fears in relation to the technology and its potential.
The delegates made 12 recommendations to Minister Calleary on four strands of the AI: Here for Good strategy for DETE to consider:
Strand 1: AI and Society
- Create legislation free from bias that makes AI accessible to all, to ensure diversity and the upholding of human rights. Encourage this across all Government departments who use AI.
- Establishment of an Ombudsman/regulatory body, similar to the Data Protection Commission, which has oversight of adoption, development and deployment.
- Government should fund accessible programmes where young people support others to use
- AI correctly e.g., groups with older people to educate and inform them on AI (what it is, and how to use it).
Strand 2: Governance and Trust
- Ensure that equality and diversity is central in policy making by using a human rights approach which fulfils the government’s human rights obligations.
- Education in AI should be included in all education settings from primary schools through to 3rd level. It should be a key subject which is well funded, relevant and ongoing rather than a one-off talk. Education should also be provided to young people through other avenues such as sport and youth clubs.
- The government should provide a universal basic income for all. Pay differences should be based on workloads and the stress of the work.
Strand 4: AI Serving the public
- There should be an investment in technology and hardware used by public services to bring up the standards across the whole country so that access is more widely available to all. Utilise public buildings to upskill communities and conduct surveys to identify gaps e.g. in underdeveloped and rural areas.
- AI to be used to predict pressure points to improve public transport and planning networks for traffic management.
- Create a supportive infrastructure for immigrants to enable them to have access to services. E.g. online systems such as banking, personal medical information and other personal information.
Strand 6: AI Education, Skills and Talent
- We want to see all generations of society educated on AI. This should take place inside and outside formal education.
- Help communities develop an understanding of AI and skills in AI. Use a balance of traditional and new methods of delivering courses both in-person and online.
- To create a better-trained workforce which will help the economy, the government should provide free courses on AI for those who wish to work in AI environments. It should also be a new subject in schools.
See the AI Recommendation Poster here
In addition to delegates being provided information packs in advance of the Assembly, they were given an opportunity to attend an online preparation session. At the preparation session young delegates heard from experts and had an opportunity to ask questions so that they had sufficient information to form their views in advance of the Assembly. Delegates heard from a number of guest speakers:
- Dr. Patricia Scanlon (AI Ambassador and Founder and Executive Chair, Soap Box Labs)
- Professor Barry O’Sullivan (Director, Insight Centre for Data Analytics, School of Computer Science and IT, UCC)
- Prof. Patricia Maguire (School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, UCD)
- Prof. Andrew Parnell (Hamilton Institute, NUI Maynooth)
- Greg Tarr (Founder of Interfex and BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition Winner 2021)
- Barry Lowry (Government Chief Information Officer, DPER)
- Anthony Kilcoyne (Deputy Director for Digital Technologies, Professional Development Services for Teachers)
- Dr. Susan Leavy (Assistant Professor, School of Information and Communication, UCD)
Workshops hosted by guest experts at the Assembly also provided opportunities for delegates to develop their capacity to construct actionable recommendations to be considered by Government. Delegates also have the opportunity to receive clarity from policy-makers by putting forward written questions to DETE in advance of the Assembly.