AI not so ready: The government's new tech literacy platform needs some improvement |
WHEN THE IRISH government announced that it was launching an online platform that would give users – primarily older people – easy access to digestible lessons in AI literacy, I was cautiously optimistic.
Chatbots and other tools underpinned by generative AI systems (the kind that produce natural language responses to queries, or generate synthetic media on demand) are becoming more prevalent in public and private services, and it’s important that people understand what these technologies are and how they work.
I knew the government was working on such a thing, and was initially concerned they would go in the direction the UK government did with their AI Skills Hub. The UK hub similarly promised short courses that could be completed by anyone from anywhere, but turned out to be little more than a directory of corporate training packages sponsored by industry providers of such technologies. Think Google, Amazon, Microsoft.
Technologist Andrew Cherry picked over the UK platform and found it near-impossible to find one of the alleged 20-minute courses that were so heavily touted, spending more than that amount of time just registering and trying to access one of them. And that was just the start of the issues he had with the course he took (provided by Accenture), which overall he found unhelpful, sloppy and overly concerned with pushing him to set up a ChatGPT account. (He detailed the whole painful experience in a rather entertaining Bluesky thread.)
Ireland’s AIready.ie, however, seemed like it could be different. When the website was launched, there was no sign of corporate sponsorship of the courses and shortly before its announcement was the official launch of Age-Friendly AI, a national AI literacy initiative for older adults.
This programme has been developed and co-designed with its target audience over the last couple of years to deliver in-person workshops that leave participants with a critical understanding of AI – that is, they leave this programme as informed users with the power to decide how they choose to engage with these technologies. It’s funded by Research Ireland and delivered by researchers from Technological University Dublin and the Adapt research centre.
Bringing the public along
It was announced earlier in April that the second phase of Age-Friendly AI would see its workshops rolled out to public libraries across the country. The Minister of State with responsibility for AI, Niamh Smyth TD, was expected to be in Johnston Central Library in Cavan to launch the programme, but was called away at the last-minute. She said of the launch: “The work being done through Adapt’s Age-Friendly AI programme is so vital, it bridges the generational divide, ensuring that the rewards of AI are accessible, equitable, and empowering for everyone, regardless of age.”
Seeing that the goals of this government-backed programme were so aligned with those of AIready.ie, I expected the new platform would reflect the resources from these co-designed and evidence-backed workshops (which are available for anyone to explore via the Age-Friendly AI website).
So, with a hopeful heart and a willing member of the over-60s audience targeted by AI Ready (my mam), I decided to have her try it out.
My mam is very handy on her phone, but even with me alongside her, it took an hour to get from start to finish of half of one of these alleged 20 to 30-minute courses. We were discussing things as we worked through them because I was recording for my For Tech’s Sake........