Artificial intelligence (AI) has moved from buzzword to becoming a real part of how we do business in recent years. The concept is decades old – indeed, the first example of AI dates back to the 1950s by most accepted standards and even earlier with some looser definitions.
But the real hype around AI has only come in the post-pandemic world, and Irish companies are embracing the technology.
“The Irish AI ecosystem is, in relative terms, quite mature,” says Leo Moore, partner and head of the technology group at William Fry. “Part of that maturity means that some AI systems providers are moving from solely relying on models provided by the major AI labs, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, to developing their own models from scratch.
“Successful experimentation with AI is now moving to significant investment in AI in just a short time. Many companies are focusing on use cases based on economic drivers, such as customer-centred uses and internal business efficiencies, rather than companywide adoption of AI.”
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The broad trend of late is to take off the stabilisers and see how AI can be used in business on a practical level. The technology has moved from the workbench to real-world use, but businesses are mindful of risk.
“Those companies moving beyond the experimentation phase and deepening their AI roots are making AI investments core to their wider business strategies. This has resulted in new AI roles emerging in companies that are focused on AI,” says Moore.
“Saying that, companies are implementing AI governance, safety, risk mitigation, and are updating legal documentation and procedures in line with best practices and legal obligations.”
The impact is widespread. While high-tech and maths-heavy sectors naturally hold an immediate attraction for AI implementation, it’s not just those industries that are embracing it.
“In reality we’re seeing companies from all our key sectors build or deploy AI solutions in Ireland, with clearly value-added returns. Financial Services companies, for example, are using AI for real-time fraud monitoring, anomaly detection and predictive risk modelling in payment systems,” says Donal Travers, global head of technology, consumer and business services, IDA Ireland.
“We’re also seeing increasingly AI-driven platforms for regulatory reporting and compliance automation, which are really helping companies reduce the burden and time frame associated with compliance.”
Travers has found that some of the sectors where Ireland has a long reputation of FDI and home-grown success stories are also embracing the technology.
“We’ve seen major medical-device clients, for example, use our digital transformation supports to embed AI capability across their Irish sites to support functions such as quality management and product testing, and to further embed digital advanced manufacturing processes across the factory floor,” he says.
“Irish companies are also leading the way. Cybersecurity company Tines uses AI to help their customers automate and simplify complex, non-repetitive tasks in a highly secure way. The quantum start-up Equal1 has built the Bell-1 high-performance computer, which brings quantum capability to tasks like AI model development. These are a real showcase for Irish innovation.”
While the breadth of use cases covers all sectors, there are still some clear divides that need to be bridged. In simple terms, the bigger a business is, the more likely it is using AI at a significant level.
“One of the most striking patterns we’ve observed is the discrepancy between large multinationals and indigenous SMEs adopting AI. While 63 per cent of multinationals have already implemented AI, only 40 per cent of SMEs have done so,” says John Callahan, chief technology officer and president of Partsol, an AI company.
“The sectors where multinationals dominate, such as technology, pharmaceuticals and finance, are consequently seeing faster returns, particularly in operational efficiency and decision-making augmentation.”
Callahan says access to resources is the key differentiator when it comes to AI adoption.
“This gap is largely due to multinationals simply having more capabilities and manpower to effectively implement and scale AI adoption. Smaller businesses, on the other hand, often face resource constraints when trying to effectively implement AI, slowing their ability to capture similar returns, even when operating in the same industry,” he says.
“Nevertheless, Ireland has a strong tech ecosystem, made up of both multinationals such as Google and Meta and native start-ups, all supported by a highly skilled and educated workforce. This, along with government initiatives like the National Artificial Intelligence Office (NAIO), all support the increased and effective adoption of AI, making Ireland a potential leader in the European AI space.”
Mature as Ireland may be when it comes to AI, the fact that AI is still maturing as a technology puts a short-term ceiling on what exactly can be achieved with it.
“Given it’s a new and constantly evolving technology, there is a gap between potential and practical application,” says Killian Buckley, who leads AI investment at Davy. “In many areas, AI hasn’t yet been fully commercialised, and scaling it requires more than just enthusiasm.”
“It will require investment in energy infrastructure, regulatory clarity and ensuring that people have the right skills. Leading firms are investing early in talent, building data foundations and staying close to policy developments so they’re ready to move when the moment comes.”
Callahan broadly shares Buckley’s view and says that irrespective of the extent of AI use in any business at present, Irish companies must plan now for how they will use the technology going forward.
“Businesses across Ireland will certainly have to ensure they integrate AI into their operations, if they have not already done so. AI is already changing Ireland’s business ecosystem from the ground up, from AI-powered insights for food merchants to AI-automated workflows for banks,” he says.
“The key to remaining competitive over the next few years, however, will not be using AI, but using the right AI. AI that relies predominantly on hallucination, not accuracy, poses a risk, particularly for high-stakes industries.”
There are recent examples where inaccurate AI has brought reputational and financial damage to businesses. Earlier this year, the high court in London told lawyers to take action to prevent AI misuse after it was discovered that a large number of case-law citations had been put before the courts that were either completely fictitious or contained passages invented by generative AI.
“Relying on hallucinatory AI can have serious reputational, regulatory, and financial consequences, even for major companies,” says Callahan. To remain competitive in an increasingly AI-driven business world, it is imperative, he adds, that companies source a model that fits its exact needs, “and that is rooted in accuracy rather than guesswork”.
There’s also the small matter of what impact AI will have on competitiveness within industries moving into the future.
“AI is levelling the playing field. Start-ups, established industry behemoths and every entity in between are actively seeking to extract value from this technology and differentiate their offerings,” says Prag Sharma, director of Citi Institute’s future of finance.
“In three to five years’ time, the companies that have successfully adopted this technology to empower their people, have adapted their processes to consume this technology and have strategically implemented AI-powered business models will be the real winners.”
