Human oversight must be maintained in Government departments, according to an evolving policy that has been made clear to workers. Specifically, artificial intelligence (AI) tools cannot be allowed to generate official documents.
In Government guidelines published for State employees last year, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers maintained that AI provided opportunities to address old problems and generate value for citizens.
Individual Government departments are at various stages of drawing up internal strategies. However, a common trend is emerging that AI cannot be used to write official documents – although in some cases, it can assist in the drafting process.
A series of parliamentary questions tabled over recent weeks by Ged Nash of the Labour Party revealed that some departments did not use AI at all while others are open to exploring its possibilities.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said his department “does not use AI tools to write speeches, produce social media content or issue responses to parliamentary questions”.
He said his department was committed to “the judicious deployment of AI technology with a view to enhancing its capacity to deliver” and was in the process of developing a strategy.
Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris said an interim strategy in his department “provides that AI should not be used to generate official content, such as memos for Government, responses to parliamentary questions, ministerial representations, ministerial speeches, and should only be used as an aid”.
Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said his department was “continuously exploring potential use cases for the use of AI”. He said the general principle in his department’s AI policy was “the technology can be used in most situations where it can improve the efficiency of the work and functions”.
“General-use cases include research, creating initial drafts or layouts for documents and supporting decision making. However, department staff have been advised that they must make their own value judgments and be transparent and vigilant about any significant use of generative AI. Staff remain 100 per cent responsible for all outputs and they must ensure it is fit for use and factually correct.”
Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien said the use of AI in his department was governed by the official public service guidelines.
“These departmental guidelines specifically prohibit the use of AI in the drafting of responses to parliamentary questions or public representations” he said. “AI may be used to produce first drafts of some official documents but all final outputs are fully reviewed, edited and approved by departmental staff who remain fully accountable at all times.”
James Lawless, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, said his department was currently considering potential uses for AI. He confirmed the circumstances in which AI was currently used included textual work, summarising and workshop structuring.
“All text is reviewed and verified by a human and there are no AI systems in place that process citizens’ information.”
Minister for Children Norma Foley said: “While the use of approved AI tools is permitted, they cannot be used to draft any departmental material without human oversight. Furthermore, where AI is used to generate content, this must be disclosed.”
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the default position in her department was that generative AI was not to be used for official work unless there was an approved business case following appropriate risk assessments.
“Where Gen AI is used to contribute, the policy states that it is not to be used to directly create official documents.” She said a pilot project was under way to look at potential internal use of AI.
Minister for Rural and Community Development Dara Calleary said AI tools were not currently used for drawing up policy documents, speeches, answering parliamentary questions, press releases, or other official documents.
Chambers said access to Microsoft Copilot Chat was made available to all staff in his department as part of its internal strategy.
He said this strategy maintained that AI could be used for initial background research in respect of relevant tasks but should not be used to generate material that would be included in Government activities, including memoranda for Government, responses to parliamentary questions, ministerial representations and ministerial speeches.
“In summary, all content produced by the department is created by skilled staff, who may make responsible use of modern AI tools to support their work and where there is robust human oversight.”
Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton said a trial of a generative AI tool was under way in her department, which was looking at using technology to assist with “general knowledge-based support tasks, such as summarising content, proposing responses to general informational queries, searching for and explanation of information”.
“All outputs are subject to human oversight and are reviewed, verified and validated by authorised personnel before any use.”
Minister for Housing James Browne said his department was finalising an AI policy but did not currently use any such technologies in drawing up policy documents, speeches, answers to parliamentary questions, press releases or for other official documents.
Jim O’Callaghan, the Minister for Justice, said his department did not use AI tools for drafting Dáil speeches, producing social media content or issuing responses to parliamentary questions. He said his department planned “to continue to assess the opportunities presented by all digital tools”.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee confirmed her department was currently updating its AI policy. She said officials were “not permitted to generate policy documents, speeches, answers to parliamentary questions, press releases or other published documents using AI tools”.
She said the Department of Defence, which she also heads, was actively exploring a range of opportunities to leverage AI for business purposes. AI tools were not permitted to replace human judgment in the development of policy or official documents, she added.
The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, which also comes under O’Brien’s remit, said it “does not currently use AI but it is actively exploring the opportunities and policy considerations available”.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said: “AI is not used or permitted in my department for drawing up policy documents, speeches, answers to parliamentary questions, press releases or for other official documents.”
Calleary, who is also Minister for Social Protection, said a small-scale trial was under way which “focuses on using AI for general knowledge tasks like summarising content and searching for specific information and not to draft official documents”.
He added: “The tool does not operate independently or autonomously. All outputs are subject to human oversight and are reviewed verified, and validated by the relevant officers before use.”