Much of the talk at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence meeting on Tuesday centred on finding the balance between controlling the risks and harnessing the potential of AI within Ireland’s regulatory framework.
“We can’t afford to stand still,” Patricia Scanlon of the AI Advisory Council told members of the Oireachtas, going on to repeatedly stress the importance of “implementing serious regulatory reforms” and avoiding having a “fragmented response” to AI.
The regulatory response to this new technology is critical, the Oireachtas repeatedly heard.
In Leinster House, a building in which phrases such as “joined-up thinking” and “co-ordinated response” echo around the halls, it was notable to hear the experts say there are eight separate regulatory bodies over AI in Ireland.
Based on work by the Department of Enterprise on the rollout of the EU-wide Artificial Intelligence Act, there will be a “complex” web of “cross-sectoral regulation” due to how vast an area the regulation will cover.
“There are actually going to be eight competent authorities or regulators under the Act,” Prof Deirdre Aherne, law professor at Trinity College Dublin and a member of the AI Advisory Council, told the committee.
Fear not, however, that there may be too many cooks. These regulatory bodies will also co-ordinate with other bodies that have sectoral expertise. Added on top of that “distributed” regulatory model, the committee heard, will be a “co-ordinating body” that will look to manage the overlaps between the bodies. Ireland’s regulatory framework will then feed into an EU-wide approach to the new technology’s adoption.
Furthermore, in its recent paper on digital innovation, the business lobbying group Ibec identified “at least 30 different State entities and 10 plans that can influence the direction of Ireland’s digital and AI ambitions”.
It noted one Cabinet committee, six departments, three Oireachtas committees, 10 departmental plans and 20 agencies that have various responsibilities related to implementing different aspects of the EU digital rule book.
It all begs the question: will eight separate regulators, 30 State agencies and 10 plans be enough to stifle Ireland’s AI innovation?
Perhaps the State’s response to AI needs more joined-up thinking at the helm, more opportunities for cross-sectoral collaboration and synergistic thinking, and maybe even one more regulatory body.
