It’s often said that artificial intelligence (AI) won’t take your job but that the person who knows how to use it will. But while the sentiment is concerning, the reality is more nuanced.“AI will not affect every job in the same way, and in many cases, it will reshape tasks before it replaces entire roles,” says Laoise Mullane, director, workforce consulting and AI adoption, at PwC Ireland. “The bigger shift is that people who can use AI effectively will be able to work faster, make better decisions and spend more time on higher-value work. That is why AI literacy is becoming a core workplace skill, rather than purely a nice technical specialism. You do not need to become a data scientist, but you do need to understand how to use AI tools, question their outputs and apply human judgment.” For workers, the message is not to panic but rather to start learning - and not just in the workplace but by using AI as part of your everyday life. “The people best positioned for the future will be those who combine AI literacy with distinctly human strengths such as critical thinking, creativity, communication, problem-solving and responsible judgment,” says Mullane. The auguries are, however, concerning, with a recent ESRI report suggesting AI adoption could displace 7 per cent of jobs in the State, or roughly 200,000 positions, with high income and highly educated households facing the highest risk. Again, don’t panic. “The jobs most exposed are not defined by job title but by the type of work being done. The higher risk lies in roles with a high proportion of repeatable, rules-based, administrative, analytical or content-generation work,” explains Mullane. “What is different from previous technological advancements is that these tasks sit within higher-skilled, higher-paid segments of the workforce, reflecting AI’s ability to replicate aspects of knowledge work that were previously considered relatively protected. That said, exposure does not mean replacement. What we are likely to see in the near term is a reshaping or compression of roles, where AI will take on the routine elements of a role and free people to focus on judgment, relationship management, complex problem-solving, ethics, innovation and decision making.” Laoise Mullane, director workforce consulting and AI adoption, PwC Ireland The greater risk is not so much job losses as the scale and pace of job change. “While some roles may decline, most will evolve, which is why upskilling, adaptability and AI literacy matter so much,” she adds. As hope is not a strategy, your best option to embrace AI – and fast. “The evidence is showing that those who use AI effectively are experiencing the benefits. They are more productive, more creative and in many cases they are better rewarded. The question should not be ‘how do I compete with AI?’, but ‘how do I start working with it?’,” says Mullane, adding that it requires neither a return to formal education nor a career reset. “The most effective starting point is applying AI to the work you already do, using it to draft, analyse, summarise or accelerate parts of your role and then build your AI capability through use.” Ironically, if you’re unsure where to start, “a practical first step is to simply ask AI that exact question and use it to guide your next steps,” she advises. All of this activity will require proper management, including strict AI policies so that employees understand the dangers and consequences of working with AI. But it also requires employers to rethink job design and workflows. “AI delivers the most value when leaders rethink how work is done, how decisions are made and where human judgment matters, rather than simply introducing new tools,” says Mullane. “Employers should view AI as an enabler of workforce transformation, not a technology roll-out. That means identifying where AI can improve outcomes, redesigning work, and being explicit about where human accountability lies.” That in itself requires practical upskilling, as well as transparent communication, and robust governance. “The organisations that succeed will be those that build trust, involve employees in the change and make AI a responsible, everyday part of how work gets done,” she says. Yet new research from CIPD Ireland, the organisation for human resources professionals, shows Irish workplaces are already struggling to keep pace with AI, with less than a fifth of organisations saying their senior managers are ready for the AI transition. The research, published in the annual HR Practices in Ireland study from the CIPD, was carried out in conjunction with the Kemmy Business School at University of Limerick. Despite almost two thirds of organisations citing automation, technology and AI as a leading concern, the survey found big gaps in readiness for the technological shifts ahead. Almost two thirds (65 per cent) of respondents said automation, technology and AI are now the leading external driver of change. Yet only 19 per cent report that senior managers are fully equipped to lead in an AI-enabled environment. Fewer than half (44 per cent) have clear guidance on AI use at work, while just a third have provided employees with AI training. Little wonder that more than two-thirds (67 per cent) of HR professionals identified AI skills as their top professional development priority. CIPD Ireland has created an AI Community of Practice, bringing together management, academics and policymakers to get to grips with the challenges ahead. Meg Dunphy, policy and engagement lead, CIPD Ireland. Photograph: Chris Bellew/Fennell Photography “We know there are a lot of question marks, and that organisations and HR practitioners want to know what others are doing, the kind of efficiencies they are getting, how they are upskilling their staff, what’s working and not, and what the costs, benefits and other trade-offs are,” says Meg Dunphy, CIPD Ireland’s policy and engagement lead. “What we’re seeing is that leadership is not as equipped as they need to be to lead in an AI-driven world, which is where we believe a lot of investment should now be placed, in order to give your leadership teams and your line managers the confidence, curiosity and freedom to experiment,” says Dunphy. Employers typically won’t want to lose people but will need to redesign jobs. “I think we will move away from job roles, and towards tasks and projects relating to where the organisation is looking to grow and is looking at how it is going to use its workforce to enable that. AI will enable the deep dives into the data of our workforces that will enable us to do that.” For employees, short and microcredential courses are the best approach to developing the skills required for the transition ahead. “We’re advising employers not to look at one-off training programmes for this but to engage in on-the-job, skills-based, continuous, iterative learning. It needs to be very much embedded in what people are doing on a daily basis. Asking someone to go and learn something for six months won’t work: the technology is simply moving too fast,” says Dunphy. “It’s about providing microlearning opportunities on a weekly or biweekly, bite-sized basis, so that line managers are training up and then training up their team. This is very much a team sport where everyone is learning together.”