Oireachtas committee hears need for national strategy on AI literacy to ensure education remains fair
17 June 2025
An Oireachtas committee has heard that a national strategy is required to ensure the use of AI in Irish schools remains a level-playing field.
(opens in a new window)Assistant Professor Susan Leavy, from the UCD School of Information and Communication, told the newly formed (opens in a new window)Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence that there is “a lot of promise of AI and education in terms of increasing accessibility” but that every school should have equal access to services.
“We need a strategy in primary and secondary education for how AI is taught and what, if any, access to technology and services like language models is needed,” she said.
“There is a lot of promise of AI and education in terms of increasing accessibility and supports for different needs in learning… We must make sure that schools who need them have the resources and can avail of the cutting edge that technology has to offer. It is about ensuring equal access to both devices and services.”
An expert in ethical and trustworthy AI and AI governance, Dr Leavy was speaking to the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence as part of a group of officials from Research Ireland.
Among the areas she addressed during the appearance was the use of AI by “pernicious actors” to influence political viewpoints and elections.
“The two areas for me, which are linked, are the information ecosystem and AI and democracy. The information ecosystem is through recommender algorithms. With the polarisation we are seeing, people may be sent different things.
“You have that possibility for pernicious actors to interfere [and] generate loads of AI content, and it could be super personalised to sway people’s beliefs, voting patterns, polarise people, and that undermines democracy. That is the one that keeps me awake at night,” she said.
“The AI-generated content on social media hasn’t yet been shown to have had an effect in elections. However, what we do know is the political polarisation in society coincides with the proliferation of the recommender algorithms.”
The Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence was established to examine and make recommendations on Ireland’s approach to the development, deployment, regulation, and ethical considerations of artificial intelligence, and on the means of ensuring that the approach supports economic growth, innovation, public trust, and societal benefit while safeguarding rights and mitigating risks.
By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations
To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie
