We spoke to sixth-year student Greg Tarr, fresh from his triumph at the 2021 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

The 2021 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) has concluded with Bandon Grammar School student Greg Tarr named as the overall winner.

Tarr’s project found a more efficient and cost-effective way to detect deepfakes using artificial intelligence. He built his software based on the top candidates submitted to a global competition to improve deepfake detection, and the resulting 150,000 lines of code wowed the judges at BTYSTE.

Tarr will go on to represent Ireland at the EU Contest for Young Scientists later this year, but first he has the Leaving Certificate and the end of his time in secondary school to get through.

After school, he intends to take on both academic and entrepreneurial pursuits. “I’m going to go to college and I’m deciding between commercial endeavours and academia. I’m going to try and balance those two equally,” he said.

“I want to become an entrepreneur eventually and do the whole tech path,” continued Tarr, and when asked if he would follow the route of his idols, the Collison brothers, and take his tech entrepreneurship abroad, he was certain he would not need to do so to succeed.

“Ireland is a perfect place for tech, it’s fabulous,” said Tarr. “The media always says Silicon Valley, but Ireland is just as good. It’s perfect.”

>> READ MORE

Words by Elaine Burke