New AI minister Niamh Smyth has never used ChatGPT and doesn’t have DeepSeek – but says she’ll learn fast

by Regency101

25 comments

  1. I remember watching an Oireachtas panel with I think Eamon Coghlan and the guy from industry trying to explain something to him in relation to broadband and running out of ways to do so and nearly banging his head against the desk about 10 years ago. This is the same.

  2. turns out she knows everything about Artificial Insemination, as is common in livestock holdings

  3. Well I’m sure there are education ministers with no teaching background, or an agricultural minister who has never set foot on a working farm prior to the job. I know FA about her, but I wouldn’t knock her based on the faux shock headline. 

  4. Like a finance minister not having a bank account? A legacy of absolute chancers.

  5. For a hot second I thought Ireland had created an actual AI minister. I was surprisingly disappointed when I came to my senses.

  6. The great news is she can just ask Chat GPT for a policy paper on how to promote AI and she’ll get it back instantly ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|feels_bad_man)

  7. I’m not knocking Niamh, perhaps there are no better candidates – but to me this is a huge let down. AI is an incredible technology and it’s advancing at a wild pace. We are already seeing that it’s having a huge impact across the board. Crime is changing, jobs are changing, education is changing. Excluding the technicalities of how it works, even planning how it will be regulated, leveraged and policed is a massively complex topic. To put someone with absolutely no background in IT (let alone AI) in charge of something like this is hugely disappointing, but I can’t say I’m surprised.

  9. Well she’s a junior minister, and AI is one part of her overall brief

  12. Kinda misleading headline. AI is only part of the role.

  14. So what?

    Is the minister for health a Doctor the minister for education a teacher.

    What job must I do to be a minister.

    Complete bullshit article.

  15. You lads do love taking outlandish headlines at face value, don’t you

  18. At this point, they aren’t even trying to hide the fact that government and civil service expansion is nothing but a make work scheme for their mates, at the expense of the taxpayer.

  19. I had a module last year on AI and Crypto and it’s impact on the future of the Music Industry. My lecturer was ~45, and she had not one clue how AI worked or it’s applications, and also tried to convince me that crypto is good for the environment (it takes an abundance of electricity to mine bitcoin).

    Shockingly that same university is in hot water right now for firing and rehiring all of their staff on lower pay after tripling fees 🙂

  21. Hmm and I thought these two weeks off were for familiarizing themselves with their new roles.

  22. This is so frustrating, I’m actually angry hearing this. Ai could be one of the most disruptive breakthroughs of our time. It has the possibility to help many people but also it could just consolidate power in the already huge corporations.
    And we get a minister who has absolutely no concept or grasp of the topic.
    This is just very disappointing.

  25. This feels like a tabloid headline, is this normal for the indo? I didn’t think so? Are they that clueless about AI? Really?

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