Top 5 Irish tech policy stories of the week

Reuters launch Digital News Report 2024

This week Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism launched their Digital News Report Ireland 2024. The report gives a detailed examination and analysis of news consumption and the media landscape in Ireland.?The research study is conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and sponsored by Coimisiún na Meán .? The report found that?‘online, excluding social media’ (33%) has overtaken TV (31%) as the main source of news for the first time. Additionally,?44% of respondents said they have read or heard a ‘large’ or ‘moderate’ amount about AI. A further 41% said they know ‘a small amount’ and 10% say they know ‘nothing at all’. 56% of media consumers are uncomfortable with news being produced ‘mostly by AI’ with only ‘some human oversight’.

DPC engage with Meta on AI

The Data Protection Commission Ireland (DPC)?welcomed?a decision by Meta to pause its plans to train its large language model using public content shared by adults on Facebook and Instagram. Despite agreeing to the DPC's request Meta?said it was “disappointed” with the decision and that it was a?“step backwards for European innovation”.

Discussion of potential impact of AI on society continues

Drago? Tudorache, a Romanian lawmaker and key architect of the EU’s landmark AI Act, has said the AI Act?will hve an impact greater than GDPR.?“The rules and the governance [of AI] are going to have an enormous impact on society, the economy, on geopolitics,” he said. Tudorache?delivered a keynote address at an event hosted by Adapt, the Science Foundation Ireland AI research body in Trinity College Dublin. Speaking at the event he?said AI presented the most disruptive force for our workforce in human history

DPD remove EVs from depot due to power constraints

DPD?removed electric vehicles from its Cork depot as there isn’t capacity?in the grid network to charge them. DPD Ireland CIO, Colin Kennedy, warned that issues with the state's energy system was slowing down business growth and investment in decarbonisation.

Work from home priority for Irish workers

A survey published by Stepstone Group, the global recruitment company behind IrishJobs , found that?Irish workers are increasingly willing to refuse?job offers with no remote working or?hybrid arrangement. It found that?almost half of Irish workers would turn down a job offer if there were no remote working options