Ireland launches national AI strategy

The government of Ireland has launched a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, aimed to ‘serve as a roadmap for how Ireland can leverage the potential of AI for unlocking productivity, for addressing societal challenges, and for delivering public services’. The document also highlights how the country ‘can be an international leader in using AI to benefit [the] economy and society, through a people-centred, ethical approach to its development, adoption and use’. Objectives outlined in the strategy include: building strong public in AI (through measures such as appointing an AI ambassador to champion AI and providing coursed to educate the public about AI); developing an agile and appropriate governance and regulatory environment for AI (measures include the publication of a Standards and Assurance Roadmap for AI and investigating the potential of regulatory sandboxes for AI); driving the adoption of AI in Irish enterprises (establishing an Enterprise Digital Advisory Board and setting up an AI Innovation Hub are some of the envisioned actions); ensuring better public service outcomes through a step change in AI adoption by the Irish public sector; enabling a strong Irish ecosystem for high-quality and responsible AI research and innovation; building a workforce prepared for and adopting AI; and building a data, digital and connectivity infrastructure which provides a secure foundation for AI development and use in Ireland.