ADAPT Radio

Artificial Intelligence is deeply embedded in essential everyday services, often without public
awareness, making AI literacy a critical issue of personal autonomy, social inclusion, and online
safety for older adults. Without foundational knowledge, this demographic risks being shaped by AI
rather than shaping its future. The Age-Friendly AI initiative is working to close this knowledge gap
through national dialogue and co-created literacy training.
The episode explores participants' hopes for independent living technologies and their serious
concerns regarding privacy, security scams, and complicated digital interfaces. It details the three-
phase approach to developing accessible training rolled out across libraries.
Dr Claire O'Connell is joined by Paula Kelly, a lecturer and lead on the Age-Friendly AI initiative at TU
Dublin, and Michael Core, an electrical and electronic engineer and lecturer also at TU Dublin. They
share insights from thousands of engagements with older adults across Ireland.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT
● AI literacy is essential for autonomy
● AI is embedded in everyday life
● Older adults engaged in co-creation
● Hopes and concerns shape training
● Need coordinated investment for upskilling

GUEST DETAILS
Paula Kelly is a lecturer and member of the tPOT Research Group in the School of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering at TU Dublin. She is the team lead on the Research Ireland funded Age-
Friendly AI: Ireland's National Artificial Intelligence Literacy Initiative. This initiative fosters national
dialogue on AI with older adults and co-creates a comprehensive, accessible, and inclusive national
AI literacy programme.

Michael Core is an electrical and electronic engineer and a lecturer also at the School of
Electronic and Engineering in TU Dublin. He has a particular interest in integrating embedded
systems using new web technologies and has many years of senior management experience in
the telecommunications industry.

Connect with the Guests:
● Paula Kelly email : [email protected]
● Michael Core linkedin: linkedin.com/in/michaelcore
● Website: https://agefriendlyai.ie/

Trustworthy information faces crisis as overwhelming content volume pushes people toward single trusted voices yet statistical language models trained on internet data produce plausible but sometimes incorrect answers lacking true intelligence or understanding.

Professor Jennifer Edmond, Director Digital Humanities Trinity College Dublin leading KT 4D project examining AI, big data and democracy through humanities lens, alongside Éamonn Kennedy, Chief Innovation Officer News Corp developing verification systems at Storyful, explain why we're paradoxically returning to village information model after era of unlimited access created processing paralysis, how critical digital literacy requires people feeling agency toward information rather than passive ballroom dancing partners pushed by technology, why Digital Democracy Lab deliberately builds friction into platforms forcing users to question profiling, training data and system metabolism, and how three actors of technology developers, policy makers and citizens must collaborate rather than pushing responsibility between poles.

GUEST DETAILS

Professor Jennifer Edmond is Professor in Digital Humanities and Culture at Trinity College Dublin serving as Director of Postgraduate Programme in Digital Humanities and Culture and Co-Director of Trinity Centre for Digital Humanities. As TCD Principal Investigator for KT 4D project examining intersection between AI, big data and democracy through humanities lens, she leads research distinguishing between three actors of technology developers, policy makers and citizens exploring how to educate, regulate and innovate better.

Éamonn Kennedy is Chief Innovation Officer at News Corp focusing on driving innovative user centric technology by building agile cross disciplinary teams. Leading R&D team at Storyful creating systems helping journalists and analysts understand and interpret vast amount of public content and data shared as societies move online, his work centres on journalism's core principles of transparency, provenance and trusted community voices. Before joining Storyful, he was founder and product lead for number of web-based startups winning industry innovation awards including Web Summit Spark of Genius.

Connect with the Guests:
Jennifer Edmond LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferedmond/
Trinity Centre for Digital Humanities, Trinity College Dublin
KT 4D Project
Storyful News Corp
ADAPT Centre: www.adaptcentre.ie

MORE INFORMATION
You can learn more about the Sea-Scan project and other cutting-edge research at Trinity College Dublin's ADAPT Centre here: www.adaptcentre.ie/
Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the ADAPT Centre
For more information about ADAPT's groundbreaking AI and data analytics research visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

Trustworthy information faces crisis as overwhelming content volume pushes people toward single trusted voices yet statistical language models trained on internet data produce plausible but sometimes incorrect answers lacking true intelligence or understanding.
Professor Jennifer Edmond, Director Digital Humanities Trinity College Dublin leading KT 4D project examining AI, big data and democracy through humanities lens, alongside Éamonn Kennedy, Chief Innovation Officer News Corp developing verification systems at Storyful, explain why we're paradoxically returning to village information model after era of unlimited access created processing paralysis, how critical digital literacy requires people feeling agency toward information rather than passive ballroom dancing partners pushed by technology.

GUEST DETAILS

Professor Jennifer Edmond is Professor in Digital Humanities and Culture at Trinity College Dublin serving as Director of Postgraduate Programme in Digital Humanities and Culture and Co-Director of Trinity Centre for Digital Humanities. As TCD Principal Investigator for KT 4D project examining intersection between AI, big data and democracy through humanities lens, she leads research distinguishing between three actors of technology developers, policy makers and citizens exploring how to educate, regulate and innovate better. Her work examines recommender systems including PhD student Arthur Azibach's research on cold start problem showing how new accounts quickly move toward political polarisation, emphasising need for critical digital literacy where people feel agency toward information rather than passive acceptance. Created Digital Democracy Lab interactive platform deliberately building friction to help users understand profiling, training data quality and AI system metabolism, facilitated at Beta Festival 2024 with handbook and tuning for different audiences particularly software developers in Dublin use case.

Éamonn Kennedy is Chief Innovation Officer at News Corp focusing on driving innovative user centric technology by building agile cross disciplinary teams. Leading R&D team at Storyful creating systems helping journalists and analysts understand and interpret vast amount of public content and data shared as societies move online, his work centres on journalism's core principles of transparency, provenance and trusted community voices. Before joining Storyful, he was founder and product lead for number of web-based startups winning industry innovation awards including Web Summit Spark of Genius. As computer scientist and technologist, he emphasises optimism about technology as enabler whilst recognising need for common understanding of emerging terms like trustworthy AI, AGI and ASI. His perspective highlights journalism's increasing value as AI companies seek trusted content for training models, importance of commercial exchange recognising that value, and belief that journalism should remain person first with humans always involved in veracity, verification and community engagement whilst AI augments newsroom processes.

Connect with the Guests:

Jennifer Edmond LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferedmond/
Trinity Centre for Digital Humanities, Trinity College Dublin
KT 4D Project
Storyful News Corp
ADAPT Centre: www.adaptcentre.ie

MORE INFORMATION:

You can learn more about the Sea-Scan project and other cutting-edge research at Trinity College Dublin's ADAPT Centre here: www.adaptcentre.ie/
Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the ADAPT Centre
For more information about ADAPT's groundbreaking AI and data analytics research visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

KEYWORDS
#TrustworthyInformation #CriticalDigitalLiteracy #AIandDemocracy #JournalismValues #DigitalDemocracyLab

Local government faces challenge implementing generative AI ethically whilst maintaining public trust and data security as new EU AI Act regulations require basic AI literacy training for staff.
Khizer Ahmed Biyabani, researcher with ADAPT at Trinity College Dublin and 2025 Digital

Transformation Rising IT Star winner, alongside Richie Shakespeare, assistant staff officer Dublin City Council, explain Ireland's first local government generative AI Lab translating academic research into practical ethical AI tools, how retrieval model analysing council meeting minutes avoids hallucinations by training only on specific datasets preventing New South Wales Australia confusion, why four pillars covering governance, education, proof of concepts and enterprise scaling create systematic approach, and how smart gully life buoy monitoring sensors demonstrate broader Smart Cities innovation culture.

Khizer Ahmed Biyabani is researcher with ADAPT at Trinity College Dublin recently winning Rising IT Star in Public Sector Award at 2025 Digital Transformation and AI Awards. Co-leading Ireland's first local government generative AI Lab translating academic research into ethical practical AI tools for public services, he runs Explain IT workshops with colleague Claudia Bailey from Smart Documents under Academy Near Future programme at Connect Resource Centre providing basic AI literacy training required by EU AI Act Article Four.

Richie Shakespeare is assistant staff officer in Dublin City Council working within Smart Cities tech innovation section examining new emerging technologies, innovative processes and collaboration models making city operate smarter. Co-leading local government generative AI Lab partnership with ADAPT Centre at Trinity College Dublin, he focuses on internal process improvements identifying pain points staff experience whilst maintaining ethical considerations around data sensitivity and personal information protection.

Connect with the Gen AI Lab:
Website: www.adaptcentre.ie
ADAPT Centre at Trinity College Dublin
Dublin City Council Smart Cities Division

MORE INFORMATION

You can learn more about the Sea-Scan project and other cutting-edge research at Trinity College Dublin's ADAPT Centre here: www.adaptcentre.ie/

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the ADAPT Centre

For more information about ADAPT's groundbreaking AI and data analytics research visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

Teachers face overwhelming preparation burden as global education shifts toward personalised learning and outcomes based curricula without adequate infrastructure support creating fragmented system between teachers, students, school leaders and departments.

Dr Chris Byrne, founder and CEO of MESO offering intelligent planning software for teachers supported by Enterprise Ireland and ADAPT Centre Trinity College Dublin with PhD focused on curriculum change, explains why leaked UK government report showed 25% teachers considering quitting due planning burden requiring reducing class contact hours costing physical resources, how personalised education demands knowing 30 to 40 students' individual learning needs without providing additional time or infrastructure, why outcomes based education replaced topic textbook model with broad learning statements containing active verbs like discuss and investigate developing 21st century skills, and how AI enables creating unit plans, lesson plans, rubrics and success criteria whilst human teachers excel at predicting task duration where LLMs prove terrible.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

Teachers face overwhelming preparation burden personalised outcomes based education without adequate infrastructure fragmented system
Leaked UK government report twenty five percent teachers considering quitting planning burden physical resource constraints
Outcomes based education replaced topics with learning statements active verbs discuss investigate twenty first century skills

GUEST DETAILS
Dr Chris Byrne is Founder and CEO of MESO creating education planning software empowering teachers, students and school leaders through adaptive tools enhancing teaching and learning fostering environment where every learner can thrive. Supported by Enterprise Ireland commercialisation funding and partnering with Trinity College ADAPT Centre, world leading SFI Research Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology, ensuring MESO at forefront of education innovation.

Holding Postgraduate Diploma in Education Management from National University Ireland Maynooth and PhD from Trinity College Dublin where research focused on curriculum change, he brings perspective as former teacher with extensive classroom experience understanding planning burden firsthand. Active contributor to global conversation on education reform regularly speaking at national and international conferences sharing insights on curriculum innovation, adaptive learning technologies and educational transformation with research published in leading academic journals shaping contemporary discussions on effective education strategies influencing policy and practice in educational institutions worldwide.

Connect with Dr Chris Byrne:
Website: mesolab.ai
ADAPT Centre: www.adaptcentre.ie
Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Funding
Trinity College Dublin