Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 May 2024
8. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he has assessed the potential impact of artificial intelligence on the content of the jobs of those currently in the workforce, and the reskilling that may be necessary to ensure the capacity of workers to adapt; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23310/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Minister well knows, artificial intelligence will rapidly disrupt established ways of doing things as it integrates into our world. It will disrupt education and its delivery, but it will also disrupt many workplaces and create skill needs. To what extent is this now anticipated? What planning and strategies are being put in place?
Ireland's national AI strategy, AI - Here for Good, launched in 2021, outlines how Ireland can be an international leader in the use of artificial intelligence to benefit the economy and society. The strategy is founded on three core principles, namely, adopting a human-centric approach to the application of AI, staying open and adaptable to new innovations and ensuring good governance to build trust and confidence for innovation to flourish. A key enabler to support AI adoption is to ensure our workforce is prepared for the impact of it. The stability programme update published last month summarises work in the Department of Finance to assess the potential impacts of AI on the Irish labour market. The research identifies occupations that are relatively more exposed and susceptible to AI applications where upskilling opportunities can reduce the risk of employment losses. It also identifies occupations most open to the integration of AI in a complementary way, increasing innovation and productivity in the workplace. The refreshing and updating of the national AI strategy currently under way provides the opportunity to examine how best Ireland's education system can support and enable the transformation of the workforce, which is expected to be driven by AI adoption. This work is being built on the detailed framework set out in the skills dimension of the national digital strategy.
I appreciate that there is a strategy in place but that strategy is four years old and, with the pace of this, changes occur within months. The enterprise committee, of which Deputy Stanton is also a member, heard this week that only 5% of companies are engaged in any sort of reskilling for the onset of artificial intelligence. We need an accelerated programme in areas such as Skillnet Ireland and the Springboard programmes to look at workforces that need to adapt rapidly. We know it is already hitting journalism, as well as lawyers, programmers and accountants. White collar positions will be dramatically impacted. We need to see programmes and the capacity to deliver them. The capacity to deliver skills in this area will be a real constraint.
I do not disagree with the Deputy, particularly in the context of the European Union's European Year of Skills and the volume of skills that either cannot be met or are under threat. AI has the best of both worlds. It is something to be embraced but it is also something to which we will have to adapt in our education system, particularly in further and higher education. I do not disagree with anything said by the Deputy in that context. I met with representatives from Skillnet during the week. It provides an absolutely fantastic employer collaboration, together with my Department, SOLAS, the ETBs and others, in making sure that existing employees are continuously being put on a pathway to absorb the skills that are needed not just for the future but also for the here and now. There are over 70 of these Skillnet networks and initiatives across the country which are providing a real opportunity that is employer-led and a bottom-up, rather than a top-down, approach, which is ultimately what is going to be needed. We can use the word "accelerated" or we can perhaps use the word "heightened" but it is something that as a Government, not just through this Department but also through the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, we will have to embrace in the coming months to a degree that other countries are probably not reaching at the moment.
To give the Minister an example, we had the major consultancy firms in before the committee. They have every staff member now going through a process of understanding and equipping themselves to deal with the disruption, and opportunity, indeed, of artificial intelligence. Will the Minister of State consider putting some of his senior staff through a programme such as that in order to build the capacity and the capacity to anticipate? This is going to break on us at such a pace that conventional ways of planning educational programmes will be blown out of the water. We need to think differently about this challenge.
Before the Minister comes in, there are a number of supplementary questions.
I strongly support Deputy Bruton in what he is saying. This has been called the fourth industrial revolution. I was at the committee meeting to which the Deputy refers. The amount of funding the companies are putting in here is staggering. Billions upon billions of euro and dollars are being spent by the large multinational companies in this area. It is going to change everything and it is happening as we speak. Does the Minister agree that at very least we should have a Cabinet subcommittee, if not a dedicated Oireachtas committee, to deal with this issue on its own?
The importance of this question goes without saying. In particular, we must consider the rapidity with which artificial intelligence is likely to affect the workforce in production activities all over the globe. Competitors around the world are availing and will avail very quickly of the opportunities on offer. At this stage, what is most important is to have a strategy that kicks in quickly in order to be able to maximise the opportunities, isolate the threats and try to ensure we increase production in every way possible in a way that is beneficial to the economy, employees and employers.
I thank Deputies Stanton and Durkan for their inventions. Going back to what Deputy Bruton said regarding what happened at the committee with the consultancy firms, I will certain review it and have a look at it. However, "Yes" is the answer. Deputy Stanton referred to this being a fourth industrial revolution. The last time, we had the introduction of robotics and all of a sudden people who were on assembly lines were made irrelevant and redundant and were put on a scrapheap. That is not where we want to get to. Neither do we want to get to a situation where senior officials in the permanent government are in any way discommoded or behind the curve on what is the best available advice. I will certainly have a look at the committee's deliberations and the conclusions it reached. Particularly given the remit of the Department of further and higher education into the future, not just for the current cohort of people doing their leaving certificate or about to enter junior infants but for people for the next 30 or 40 years, if the Deputy is asking whether I believe our senior officials should embrace that sort of opportunity to think outside the box, then the answer is absolutely "Yes".
Deputy Bruton had his two supplementaries but he can make a comment if he likes because we are not under pressure.
I will make one comment. To paraphrase the OECD, the leaving certificate is preparing young people to be second-class robots. Now that we have this new pace of change crashing upon us, we really have to take it very seriously.
The Minister is not getting the last word as we are moving on.
That is fine.
