The share of Irish job ads requiring artificial intelligence-related (AI) skills jumped by almost two-thirds last year to 3.7 per cent of postings, according to professional services firm PwC. The PwC 2026 AI Jobs Barometer report found that jobs requiring specific AI skills have grown more than five times more quickly since 2019 than the total jobs market, which expanded 16 per cent. Some 2.3 per cent of postings mentioned AI skills in 2024, the firm said. The findings were part of an international study by PwC, which drew on job postings on online recruitment websites, national and local job boards as well as postings scraped straight from individual corporate and organisational career pages, according to a spokeswoman for the firm. In Ireland, roles which include AI-related skills tend to be associated with higher-advertised salaries, particularly in more AI-exposed industries such as technology and financial services, PwC said. These roles typically reflect a combination of in-demand capabilities, with AI skills acting as a key enabler that enhances productivity and complements other high-value expertise.[ Irish teenagers as young as 13 worried about career impact of artificial intelligenceOpens in new window ]“Across the global economy, we’re starting to see a clearer divergence in how organisations are using AI to create value. Those seeing the strongest returns are using AI to amplify human expertise, accelerate innovation and unlock new sources of growth,” said Laoise Mullane, director of workforce consulting and AI adoption lead at PwC Ireland. “As a result, they are pulling ahead not just on productivity, but on overall business performance, compared to those taking a more narrow, efficiency-led approach.”The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned last month that 40 per cent of Irish jobs could be affected by AI – either by complementing them or replacing them. The fund said Ireland was “relatively more exposed” than other advanced economies to “novel” economic risks that the technology poses to employment and also to financial markets.In a preliminary report on the findings of its latest mission to Ireland, the IMF said AI can be associated with “productivity gains”. However, realising those gains requires continuous reskilling and upskilling of the labour force, it said.