Ireland has the chance to become a global leader in the development of safe and ethical artificial intelligence usage, a forum taking place in Dublin has heard.
The first National AI Leadership Forum is being attended by representatives of major tech companies, regulators, Government departments, finance firms, civil society groups, media companies, healthcare businesses and education.
That includes representatives from Meta, Microsoft, Google and Intercom; the Data Protection Commission and Coimisiún na Meán; civil society groups including the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and SIPTU, numerous government departments, media companies, universities and a number of finance firms.
Organised by ADAPT - the cross-university research body - and hosted by William Fry Ireland, the forum aims to develop a framework for Ireland's global role in the AI industry.
"It initially developed from some roundtables which were organised by the ADAPT centre and the prevailing view was that Ireland really can become a world leader in AI governance, regulatory and safety space," said Dr Barry Scannell, partner in William Fry's technology department and a member of the Government's AI Advisory Council. "This morning is about figuring out how we make that happen."
He said that part of the aim of today's event was to gather as many stakeholders together as possible - but he also hoped it would spark real progress in the development of a national policy framework.
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"It's important to recognise that there's actually some really exciting things being done already - part of the purpose [of this] is to air a lot of the various initiatives that are being undertaken by various elements of this AI ecosystem in Ireland," he said.
"I think we already have a very strong international influence in terms of digital technology regulation - if you look at the fact that Dublin is the European home to the biggest technology companies in the world, we've the biggest AI companies in the world, our regulators are globally respected... we also have that ecosystem an infrastructure that feeds that."
The US has led the charge on the development of the AI industry, with America's big tech companies behind the bulk of the investment announced to date.
The European Union, meanwhile, has attempted to develop regulation for the burgeoning industry.
That has led to tensions between the two sides - with a widening gap appearing between the US and EU. However Dr Scannell said that made Ireland's role as a bridge between the two sides even more important in regards to AI.
"Ireland has always been a bridge between the United States and the European Union," he said. "Geopolitically, especially in the AI space, there is a gap widening between the US and Europe in terms of how AI is being approached.
"Ireland's position as that bridge between the US and the EU is becoming increasingly important."
