A new office to co-ordinate the regulation of artificial intelligence, campaigns to help business and wider society adapt and an international AI summit during Ireland’s European presidency are among the measures agreed by the Cabinet on Tuesday as part of its response to the rapid rollout of AI technologies internationally.

After Taoiseach Micheál Martin warned last week of job losses and industry upheaval in the coming years due to the arrival of AI, the Cabinet on Tuesday approved a report by the National Economic Social Council (Nesc) to guide the “safe and responsible development and use of AI in Ireland”.

Nesc is an advisory body in the Department of the Taoiseach, which is chaired by the country’s top civil servant John Callinan and includes representatives of business, trade unions and other sectoral interests.

The report to be published later on Tuesday evaluates the threats and opportunities of AI and sets out a path for the State’s response.

It underlines the threat to jobs that the Taoiseach warned about last week, citing a study by officials that estimates “63 per cent of Irish employment lies in highly AI-exposed occupations”.

“Exposure is polarised, with a significant share of workers in high-exposure, low-complementarity roles such as administrative and support functions,” who it says are “facing greater displacement risks”.

“Women are disproportionately represented in the higher-risk cohort, reflecting a larger share of female workers in administrative roles,” it says.

Analysis from the Department of Finance is already finding evidence of an AI effect, suggesting “significantly weaker employment growth over the past two years in AI-exposed sectors as compared to sectors with lower relative exposure. This trend is more pronounced for younger workers.”

The report also dwells on the challenges for public discourse and for democracy because of the hugely increased potential for misinformation and disinformation on a massive scale.

[ AI boom threatens to cause ‘significant upheaval’ for Irish tech jobsOpens in new window ]

Referring to the recent controversy over the “nudification” function on X’s Grok service – where the technology would produce nude versions of photographs of people – it found that “in an 11-day period, Grok generated an estimated three million sexualised and violent images, including approximately 23,000 depicting children, at a rate of around 190 images per minute.

A significant proportion of the material remained publicly accessible even after posts were removed. The initial response from X was to restrict the feature to paid users and to implement geoblocking in certain jurisdictions; a move widely criticised as insufficient. Following continued pressure from Irish and European regulators as well as the public outcry, X introduced more substantive technical measures worldwide to prevent the AI model’s ability to ‘undress’ individuals.”

The European Commission instigated an investigation into X in response.

In response to the emergence of AI, the report suggests that the Government’s response be guided by five priority areas: Responsible and Strategic Adoption, Trustworthy and Ethical Practice, Anticipatory Governance, AI Literacy and Public Legitimacy.

It suggests the adoption of 90 “deliverables”, which range across several Government departments and agencies.

They include:

a new AI advisory unit and a national AI fellowship programme for the public sector;a plan to encourage business to adopt AI, with “AI champions” to highlight opportunities;an “Observatory for Business AI Readiness” to measure and monitor enterprise use of AI in Ireland;an “AI in Research” transformation programme and an internationally leading AI research body to be established;the establishment of an AI Office of Ireland, as the central coordinating authority for the EU AI Act, hosting an international AI and digital summit as a flagship event during Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the EU;a new “online one-stop-shop AI Skilling Platform” for employers and individuals, and a nationwide digital and AI skilling campaign;and a “National Conversation on AI in research to support public engagement, informed debate and public trust”.