ALMOST one in three workers across Ireland now use AI in the course of their work, with almost half of those using it every day.
This is according to the latest Working in Ireland Survey, which was overseen by UCD Professor John Geary.
The survey found workers were generally far less wary of the technology, with only 1% of those surveyed expressing a desire to see its use curtailed due to fears for their jobs.
Also revealed is that AI adoption is strongly divided by education, occupation, gender, earnings and firm size.
Workers with postgraduate qualifications are up to 15 times more likely to use AI than those with basic educational qualifications.
Professional and managerial workers are also five to six times more likely to use AI than people working in caring, trades or process and machine occupations.
While large companies are almost twice as likely as small firms to have workers using GenAI.
Despite the increase in use, for those workers who have adopted AI into their work flow, any time saved has generally been used to do more work rather than improve work-life balance. A third of workers say the pace of their work has intensified, while just 4.7% report an increase in earnings as a result of using AI.
“All in all,” the authors of the report say that, “while the productivity gains from AI adoption are considerable, and some workers stand to benefit, the AI dividend at this point is being predominantly captured by employers and not by workers.”
The 2025 Working in Ireland Survey was administered to 4,300 workers in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
