On Tuesday, April 8, the Irish national debate champions faced off with Whitworth’s Forensic Team on the question of whether Artificial Intelligence (AI) ought to be regulated by an international body. Whitworth’s Forensics debate team argued for regulation, and Ireland’s debaters opposed the international regulating body.  

After an hour of vigorous debate, Dr. Mike Ingram, the debate program coordinator, had the audience express their votes by knocking on tables and declared the debate a tie.

The Irish debate format gives each team member a seven minute window to present their argument, with the first and last minute protected, meaning that there can be no interruptions. The remaining five minutes are open to the opposing team, raising questions for the speaker that they can choose to answer or decline. 

The Whitworth vs. Ireland debate night is a long going tradition, dating back to 2013 and only missing two years due to COVID-19. The Irish National Debating Championship has been going on for much longer, sponsored by the Irish Times, starting over 50 years ago in 1960. 

Whitworth’s home team was represented by three seniors, chosen both for their seniority and for their ability to adapt to the more public setting of this debate. The debaters were Gwen Skeen, Dee Geneti and Sarah Mott. 

This year’s Irish debate champions were Liam Boyce, from the University of Galway, and Adrienne Ward, with Rob Fitzpatrick both from the Literary and Historical Society at the University College of Dublin.  

Fitzpatrick reflected on the American tour, saying that this tour presents a unique opportunity to explore areas of America that are “nothing really [like] that any of us have seen before in Europe or in Ireland.” The small team has traveled through Tennessee, California, Colorado and now Washington. In each state, they are hosted by schools where they debate. Fitzpatrick remarked that these debates are different but have quite similar themes, like NATO and AI regulation.  

Fitzpatrick thought that the debate at Whitworth went well and stated gratitude for his co-debaters as they are “incredibly smart and very good at debating.” 

Dee Geneti, representing the home team, agreed with Fitzpatrick, saying, “It went really great,” and highlighted that both teams had good refutations for the other side. Geneti considered this debate a great opportunity to speak to a diverse audience and engage in civil discourse.  

Ingram reflected on the debate as well, saying that there was a clear delineation between the ideas presented by both the debate teams and the audience. Ingram also emphasized the opportunity for Whitworth students as the undergraduate debate team is “arguing up and demonstrating that [they] are pretty capable of intellectual conversation with graduate students.” 

To learn more about the Whitworth Forensics team, check out their website, and to learn about the Irish debaters, check out the Irish Times Debate.