AI: Ireland’s Next Great Engine of Jobs and Growth…

Over the last week, there have been genuine concerns about the safety of increasingly powerful AI and, at the same time, ongoing scaremongering about AI causing mass job losses in the future.

Whilst it is absolutely essential that AI does not become a risk to humanity, and governments must step up and take decisive action to regulate, monitor and control these new powerful AI models, we should not diminish the potential benefits that AI discoveries could bring to scientific breakthroughs, medical research and many other areas of life.

However, I believe that much of the scaremongering about widespread job losses is misplaced. Instead, I believe the reality could be quite the reverse.

Lessons from previous industrial revolutions and technological advances show that as productivity increases and markets become larger this can lead to more employment opportunities and more highly skilled jobs.

I remember the first computer that was installed in our civil engineering consultancy office in Belfast in the early 1990s. We had one computer for all ten staff on our floor, but we had high hopes that this new machine would revolutionise how we worked and possibly lead to an easier life.

Despite the fact that it took over 12 hours to run a single drainage design simulation on our valued computer – these days that same simulation takes just a few seconds – we thought it might eventually lead to us all working a three-day week with increased leisure time to spend on the golf course or elsewhere.

We could not have been more wrong!

It is true that many of our job descriptions and career titles have also changed, but there were no mass redundancies, and, unfortunately, no three-day weeks.

Instead, today, the computers on our wrists, in our pockets and on our desks have made our working and personal lives busier than ever. We are more productive, but we are also subject to much higher standards, and the requirement to achieve greater results constantly increases.

I believe that this will happen as AI is integrated into and transforms every aspect of our working lives. There will be an increased demand for skilled people to work in AI assurance, government regulation, cybersecurity, testing, compliance, risk assessment and management, as well as human oversight of AI systems.

However, as AI systems become increasingly capable and begin to perform tasks that previously required significant levels of human expertise, we will have little choice but to become smarter ourselves – more skilled, more adaptable and more industrious. This, in itself, will require a revolution in learning and education and, as well as, a substantial workforce to develop, operate and manage these new systems safely.

The current response from governments around the world is inadequate. Significant investment by both government and private companies will be required to train and employ this new generation of workers.

Indeed, The World Economic Forum’s ‘Future of Jobs Report 2025, WEF_Future_of_Jobs_Report_2025.pdf , estimates that the major forces transforming the global economy — including technological change, demographic shifts and the green transition — could result in 170 million new jobs being created by 2030, while 92 million existing jobs could be displaced. That would represent a net increase of 78 million jobs.

The report also finds that:

“Broadening digital access is expected to be the most transformative trend – both across technology-related trends and overall – with 60% of employers expecting it to transform their business by 2030. Advancements in technologies, particularly AI and information processing (86%); robotics and automation (58%); and energy generation, storage and distribution (41%), are also expected to be transformative.

These trends are expected to have a divergent effect on jobs, driving both the fastest-growing and fastest-declining roles, and fueling demand for technology-related skills, including AI and big data, networks and cybersecurity and technological literacy, which are anticipated to be the top three fastest growing skills.”

The advent of AI and the extraordinary pace of advancement are therefore likely to turbocharge demand for skills and jobs in technology, science and management and oversight of these new systems.

Northern Ireland has an important role to play too. Our strong cybersecurity industry could receive a significant boost from AI, creating increased demand for highly trained and skilled people.

AI could become one of the greatest engines of productivity, economic growth and job creation of our generation across the whole island of Ireland.

The big question is: how are we, as humans, going to become skilled enough to safely design, monitor and implement these new AI systems into our everyday lives, our workplaces, our power and water systems, healthcare systems and every other area of life?

Perhaps we need to turn the question back on AI itself and ask: how can we become smart enough, skilled enough and adaptable enough to manage the AI systems of the future?

The answer might surprise us all.