The 150,000 Irish jobs that will be ‘displaced’ by AI within a decade

A new report from Google examining the effects generative artificial intelligence (AI) will have on Ireland’s economy and workforce has found that more than 150,000 Irish jobs will either be “fully or partially displaced” over the next decade.

The study, carried out by Implement Consulting Group, said that generative AI could lead to a €40-45 billion boost in the size of Ireland’s economy around 10 years from now, if widespread adoption is achieved.

Generative AI is a new from of AI made publically available in 2022, It can analyse text, code, images, sound and video and use it to generate or synthesize new content.

READ MORE: Irish AI expert answers key questions and concerns – from ‘will it take my job?’ to ‘is it safe?’

Due to its user-friendly nature, generative AI is expected to greatly accelerate the potential of AI to create economic impacts.

Looking at the technology’s potential to automate jobs and displace human workers, the study said that 28 per cent of Irish jobs are likely to remain unaffected by generative AI.

66 per cent of jobs here are expected to work together with generative AI and see a boost in productivity, according to the study, while 6 per cent of jobs in Ireland are estimated to be highly exposed to generative AI.

The report states that these workers are likely to see their jobs “fundamentally change” and may need to be re-employed in new occupations.

However, new jobs in the AI-powered economy are expected to replace those lost to automation, resulting in unchanged employment levels.

The report states that 155,000 or 6 per cent of the workforce in Ireland are likely to have more than half of their work fully or partially displaced by the automation provided by AI and will need to find new employment.

It is predicted that clerical supports workers, technicians and service and sales workers will be highly exposed to generative AI over the next 10 years and up to a third of these jobs are expected to see significant change.

Of the 155,000 Irish jobs expected to be highly exposed to generative AI, 75,000 are predicted to be clerical support workers. However, only around half of these are expected to be affected by generative AI.

Most of these workers are expected to be employed either outside or within the occupation due to the increase in general demand for goods and services due to increased income in the AI-powered economy leading to job opportunities in other sectors, as well as the new types of AI-related tasks created arising from the interaction of generative AI.

Around 30,000 technicians and associate professionals are also likely to be highly exposed to generative AI, as well as over 20,000 professionals, 10,000 service and sales workers, and 5,000 workers with elementary occupations.

Generative AI is also expected to help boost the productivity growth of a number of different sectors.

Due to the size of Ireland’s manufacturing sector, this sector holds the largest economic potential, whereby generative AI is estimated to boost annual productivity growth by 1.2 per cent at peak and increase value added by around €15-16 billion.

Other sectors expected to see a boost in annual productivity growth due to generative AI include information and finance (1.8 per cent), public sector (1.7 per cent), business services and real estate (1.7 per cent), turism (1.4 per cent), wholesale and retail trade (1.3 per cent), transport and storage (1.1 per cent) and construction (0.9 per cent).

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