‘There’s more to us than tea and tools’... Slane Men's Shed weigh up benefits and threats of AI

“Older people are as interested in - and as affected by - new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence or AI as other age groups in Ireland,” said Kevin Macken, chair of the Slane and District Men’s Shed.

“There is more to Men’s Sheds than the stereotypical tea and tools image. We’ve identified AI as a significant new factor that our members have to grapple with and we’re doing our bit to raise awareness of the benefits and threats that AI poses.”

Mr Macken was addressing 50 delegates from men’s sheds across Meath who were participating in a workshop on AI in the Slane Shed. The workshop was organised by the Technological University of Dublin and Dublin City University. Participants came from the Men’s Sheds in Slane, Athboy, Kells, Trim, Kilcloon, Ratoath, Dunshaughlin, An Tobar, Ashbourne, Moynalty, and Drumconrath.

“The rapid development of AI is affecting people’s lives, including older people, in ways that could not have been imagined just a few short years ago. Whether we’re booking a holiday online, using predictive text on our phones, or being encouraged to buy goods by an online store - we’re interacting with AI.

“We may also be interacting with AI when our medical test results are being processed and reported back to us. So, AI is here whether we like it or not and there’s no question but it’s bringing many benefits to us.

“However, many people have real concerns about how AI can be abused, for example to spread false information in order to influence our thinking and actions. There are concerns about how AI will eradicate jobs and, particularly in the healthcare area, lead to less contact between caregivers and patients with services being delivered online and by robots.

“This workshop is giving us the opportunity to learn more about current developments in AI and to talk about how these developments might affect us - for better or worse”, he said.

“This workshop shows that men’s sheds are relevant when it comes to the impact of new technologies on older people. Men’s sheds can provide useful opportunities to members to find out more about these developments and to raise and discuss their hopes and concerns.”

Paula Kelly from the Technological University of Dublin was the workshop leader.

She explained that the Age Friendly AI Project was aimed at ensuring that the issues thrown up by AI for older people were identified, highlighted, and addressed by policy makers and regulators. She said that the project would be bringing their research findings directly to government ministers and to the appropriate regulators such as ComReg.

“While much of the recent focus on AI has been critical arising from the Grok scandal over the use of AI to generate fake and abusive images of women and children, there’s also a lot of very positive things happening around AI’, she said.

“For example, AI is helping in the delivery of better health care, through the speedier examination of x-ray and other test findings. The great challenge is to ensure that these powerful new apps are used safely and wisely with sufficient protections to ensure that people and their finances and personal data are not exploited.

“We hope to return to Meath later in the year with training sessions that will help older people to have a better understanding of AI and to make the most effective use of it,” she said.