Potential job losses at Meta and actual redundancies at Covalen, one of its largest contractors in Ireland, illustrate that while Ireland stands to benefit from the growth of artificial intelligence there will be a downside as well.
Meta – which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – has not directly liked its plans to cut 10 per cent of its worldwide workforce to the growth of AI. But the context is the huge investment it has made – along with peers such as Microsoft and Alphabet, the owner of Google – in the race to dominate the market for AI.
What this means for the company’s 2,000 Irish staff will become clearer next month. The consequences for 700 people working at Covalen – which provides content moderation and other services to Meta – are already apparent. Oracle is also cutting jobs to free cash for AI investment.
On the positive side of the ledger is that, according to the Department of Finance, AI-related investment in data centres is one factor behind a stronger than expected economic performance last year and also one of the reasons they are relatively sanguine about the prospects for 2026, despite the war in the Gulf.
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Similarly, the fortunes of Intel – which has a manufacturing plant in Leixlip employing 5,000 people – has been transformed by demand from AI data centres for its microprocessors.
The importance of foreign investment to Ireland’s economy means that jobs have come and gone over the last three decades as the fortunes of companies rose and fell. Ireland has proved adept at riding out these changes and focusing on the next opportunity. Total employment in these firms has trended sharply higher over time.
AI would appear to present a challenge of a different magnitude. Almost two thirds of Irish jobs are exposed to the impact of AI, according to a report cited by the Taoiseach. Women are disproportionately represented among those at risk.
The trajectory of AI remains far from clear but how to respond to it is one of the biggest economic and societal challenges facing the Government. The publication this week of a report from the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) on how to navigate the threats and opportunities presented by AI is timely.
The challenge, according to the NESC, is to “shape AI intentionally in line with our values and priorities, rather than passively absorb the technology”. It sets out principles that should guide policy formation which can best be summarised as “proceed very cautiously”.
Whether or not the Government’s response to date – including the establishment of a new office to oversee regulation – constitutes an adequate response is questionable. Much more will be needed. The Government has outlined 90 policy actions it plans to deliver. It needs to get on with it.
