The Department of Agriculture is currently investigating how it could apply the use of statistical modelling or artificial intelligence (AI) within the bovine TB programme.

“This work is still at the research stage within the Department and any future decision to use the outcome of this research will be taken in consultation with all industry stakeholders. All current and future use of AI are subject to human review, data protection and governance considerations,” a Department spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal.

The spokesperson could not expand on how exactly it could be used in the context of TB.

However, AI is currently used by the Department to predict the likelihood of TB outbreaks, the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue told Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns recently.

“In Ireland, bovine tuberculosis (bTB) imposes significant direct and indirect costs on the public and private sectors and is a threat to export market access.

“In addition to the financial and production costs, bTB outbreaks can cause significant distress to herdowners. Considerable research within the scientific community has already been carried out on predictors for bTB risk, including the use of machine learning to predict animal-level risk,” the spokesperson added.

The minister also confirmed that the Department already uses AI for image analysis of crops claimed under CAP schemes and image analysis for identifying species susceptible to bird flu.