{"id":388812,"date":"2026-04-08T22:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/388812\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T22:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:43:10","slug":"ai-technology-could-render-education-a-wild-wild-west-says-union-official-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/388812\/","title":{"rendered":"AI technology could render education a \u2018wild, wild west\u2019, says union official \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201cjury is out\u201d on the potential benefits of artificial intelligence<\/a> (AI) in the classroom, the Teachers\u2019 Union of Ireland (TUI) has heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risks associated with AI in education are huge de-professionalisation of teaching, dehumanisation of learning and the amplification of racial, gender, cultural biases,\u201d the union\u2019s general secretary, Michael Gillespie, told the annual congress in Co Kilkenny<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

Concerns have been raised at the congress of the risks AI poses to the integrity of assessment and knowing if students\u2019 work is genuine, as well as the inequalities in access to technology across schools. <\/p>\n

It has become a particular talking point in recent times amid the reformed senior cycle curriculum where up to 40 per cent of the grade in some subjects is made up with coursework done by students on their own. <\/p>\n

Mullingar Community College art teacher and TUI executive member Joe Rayfus co-ordinates an AI classroom assistant pilot programme across schools in Ireland. <\/p>\n

\u201cAI is not just any new technology. It\u2019s a whole new world,\u201d Rayfus told The Irish Times on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Equating its growth to the beginnings of social media, Rayfus said AI could quickly become \u201cthe wild, wild west\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if we don\u2019t actually appropriately look at AI and how it\u2019s going to be integrated into education, we could end up in a situation with only 1,000 more problems [than those posed by social media],\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese are all very, very powerful tools, but only if they\u2019re used in the right context. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re not careful in terms of providing appropriate training and upskilling for teachers who are desperately trying to navigate this world on their own then [we may see] through no fault of their own, them perhaps using it inappropriately,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

It comes as Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton<\/a> announced the establishment of an AI in schools external advisory taskforce during the annual teachers conferences.<\/p>\n

The taskforce will \u201cprovide a structured forum for engagement with key education stakeholders, teachers\u2019 unions, management bodies, relevant agencies and experts to examine the evolving implications of AI for teaching, learning and assessment and to inform the ongoing development of policy, guidance and supports in this evolving area,\u201d the Department said. <\/p>\n

The first meeting of the taskforce will take place in May. It is \u201ca good starting point\u201d, Rayfus said, but it is key that any guidance on AI is part of a live, working document and that it does not take six months to deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with technology such as AI, is it develops at such a rapid pace. By the time we wait for a paper that might take six months to come out, it\u2019s borderline obsolete, if not completely obsolete, because technology is advancing in that way. So it needs to be a live working document, and it needs to engage teachers.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201cjury is out\u201d on the potential benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) in the classroom, the Teachers\u2019 Union…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[220,218,219,2989,61,60,55234,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-388812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-hildegarde-naughton","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-teachers-union-of-ireland-tui","15":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}