St Louis student, Anna, crowned regional Oireachtas Essay winner
A senior student from St Louis Secondary School in Monaghan was crowned the Ulster Winner of the Annual Oireachtas Essay Competition/Aiste an Oireachtais at a presentation in Leinster House on Friday, May 8.
Anna Lutze was among students from counties Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Monaghan and Offaly who were honoured for their winning essays on the theme ‘Is AI a threat to Democracy?’ / ‘An Intleacht Shaorga: bagairt don Daonlathas?’.
The 17 year old TY student wrote her essay on how the risks associated with AI outweigh the benefits, drawing particular attention to the pre-existing bias that may be built into AI platforms by developers, foreign autocracies using AI to influence democracy and control elections, and the difficulties surrounding the differentiation between AI and reality, especially on social media where deepfakes can spread easily.
Anna's essay was described by judges as a "very good understanding of AI use in society" saying it showed "a great depth of reading around the topic".
As an opportunity to enhance her essay-writing skills, Anna thought the topic was “very relevant” in today’s society and saw it as a good opportunity to learn about AI.
She believes that AI can pose a “very big” threat to democracy, can be “easily abused” and is “often mistaken” as a neutral source.
Anna, with the help of her English teacher Ms Taylor Foy, spent around three weeks gathering sources, writing and refining her essay of roughly 1,000 words.
She feels that the competition is “extremely important” in allowing young people to participate in democracy and voice their opinion.
“I’m very happy and very surprised,” she says of her win.
The winning students received their certificates from Competition Founding Patron and Iar-Cheann Comhairle, Seán Ó Fearghaíl, along with a grand total of €5,000 in prize money.
Over a thousand students entered this year’s competition and winners were determined by an expert panel of judges, which included Professor Patrick Geoghegan of TCD and journalist, writer and academic, Alan Titley MRIA.
Now in its fourth year, the Oireachtas Essay Competition encourages young people to reflect on the importance of democracy, and was devised in 2022 by competition convenor Senator Rónán Mullen with the support of An Ceann Comhairle and the Oireachtas Education Unit.
“It is clear that schools recognise the importance of getting students to think about our democracy and the need to work it for the common good,” said Senator Mullen.
Presenting the prizes, Deputy Ó Fearghaíl said greater engagement by young people with the political system was “vital for the health of our democracy and to overcome the many challenges we face at home and abroad".
The competition is sponsored by PTSB with associate sponsors Mason Hayes & Curran, CJ Fallon, ESB, and An Post.