A study led by Trinity College Dublin found artificial intelligence is changing tasks and workflows in Irish workplaces more than it is eliminating jobs.. The study, titled “Right-Sizing AI at Work,” was commissioned by Technology Ireland DIGITAL Skillnet and conducted by the Centre for Sociology of Humans and Machines, a joint center at Trinity College Dublin and Technological University Dublin..
The report said AI is increasingly supporting workers across a range of occupations, with employees taking on more responsibility for reviewing, verifying, coordinating and exercising judgment over AI-supported outputs.. Lead researcher Taha Yasseri said, “Our research finds that AI’s impact on work in Ireland is currently best understood as a process of task and workflow transformation rather than immediate large-scale job displacement.”.
Yasseri said organizations face a challenge to build human-machine partnerships that improve productivity while preserving learning, accountability, expertise and job quality.. The research found AI use was already common in working life, with 47.4% of workers saying they use AI tools daily in their role and 57.1% saying AI is used by many professionals in their field..
At the same time, 40.9% of respondents said they had no dependency on AI tools, and 41.5% said they did not think AI could replace significant parts of their job in the future.. The study also found 64.7% of workers described themselves as confident or very confident using AI tools, while 69% said they felt prepared to adapt their skills to work alongside AI..
The report identified a gap between worker confidence and participation in formal training, and said more structured, practical and role-specific skills development was needed.. Mark Jordan, chief executive of Skillnet Ireland, said the value of AI “will ultimately be determined by how we prepare people and organizations to harness it effectively.”.
Una Fitzpatrick, director of Technology Ireland, said businesses were investing in workforce capability, leadership, governance and practical skills development as they adopted AI to streamline processes and improve decision-making.. Máire Hunt, director of Technology Ireland DIGITAL Skillnet, said, “One of the clearest messages from this research is that using AI and generating real business value from AI are two very different things.”.
Graham Abell, vice president of software engineering and Ireland site lead at Workday, said lasting value from AI depends on “quality data, organizational context and trusted governance.”. The report was launched at Workday’s Dublin headquarters and concluded that organizations need to move from fragmented AI tool adoption to deliberately designed human-machine partnerships, with clear decisions on what should be automated, augmented or delegated..
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