A new report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) on the impact on AI in Ireland provides estimates of what it will mean for jobs and incomes. These carry important messages for the Government, even if the predictions are , by their nature, tentative given the rapid evolution of the technology. <\/p>\n
The most striking estimate is that AI could displace some 7 per cent of jobs in the Irish workforce, mainly desk-based ones with relatively high incomes. While AI will also increase productivity \u2013 and possibly incomes \u2013 in other areas, the report warns that the overall impact on economic growth and tax revenues could be negative. <\/p>\n
There are some important policy implications. One is the vital task of properly planning and resourcing AI education and training, including for those in the middle or later stages of their careers. Third-level courses can adjust to include AI modules, the research points out, but retraining those already in work \u2013 either to allow them to shift jobs or to get the greatest benefit from AI in their current role \u2013 will be more difficult. <\/p>\n
This kind of strategic, medium-term planning is an area where Ireland often calls short. Useful work is underway in an Oireachtas committee \u2013 and presumably in Government departments \u2013 but bringing this together into a coherent plan is what must happen. <\/p>\n
AI may also have a negative impact on the public finances, though the report says it is impossible to be definitive on this. Fewer jobs mean less income tax, of course, and this may not be made up for by higher productivity and taxes elsewhere. This means that the State needs to consider broadening the tax base, according to the ESRI report, with a particular emphasis on wealth and capital, two areas which are generally lightly taxed in Ireland compared to other countries. <\/p>\n
Like all major technological changes, the impact of AI will be unpredictable and there will be winners as well as losers. The key difference this time is the speed at which this new force is entering the working lives of so many and the uncertainty about its exact impact. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) on the impact on AI in Ireland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[173169,2287,90179,61,60,3410,14396,1196,43,2286],"class_list":{"0":"post-390415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-civilian","9":"tag-conflict","10":"tag-hezbollah","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-lebanon","15":"tag-middle-east","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-war"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}