Latest news with #SeanBlanchfield
Irish Examiner
14 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Software engineers and customer service agents will be first to lose jobs to AI, Oireachtas to hear
Software engineers, junior lawyers, and customer service roles will be among the first in Ireland to be affected by job losses to artificial intelligence, experts on the AI Advisory Council predict. Members of the council, made up of 15 independent experts who advise the Government on Ireland's AI strategy, appeared before the Oireachtas AI Committee on Tuesday. It heard the even moderate workforce reductions could collectively lead to "noticeable increases" in unemployment. "We cannot predict the exact pace, scale, or whether new jobs will replace those lost," AI Advisory Council chairwoman Patricia Scanlon said. When asked if he could predict what would be the first jobs to be hit in Ireland, council member and Jentic founder and CEO Sean Blanchfield said he believed it would be in software engineering, 'ironically enough'. 'Naturally enough, people in my industry are taking this technology and applying it to the first market they know, which is themselves.' 'That's real, and that's current." Entry level programming jobs are largely being replaced by AI now, he added. Certainly, among the leading companies. The job of the software engineers has moved up to more software 'architect'. I think if you speak to lawyers, you find the same things happening in law firms. Those are two obvious examples. The quality of AI technology is improving 'month after month', he added. 'Palpably. We can see it in our own company.' "These are intense, information-work jobs. If it's possible to automate the work of a software developer or a junior lawyer, you can automate a lot of things. ' Customer service would be another example of this, he added. Professor Deirdre Ahern, member of the AI council and professor in law at Trinity College Dublin, cautioned that cuts to junior roles due to AI could have further impacts. 'We mightn't have as many but we still need people who are able to interrogate outputs, etc. It's not that the jobs are gone, but it's just maybe there may be less of them.' Fine Gael TD Keira Keogh said it was interesting to hear members of the council say we can't predict the next five years. Five years ago, when we were talking about AI and robots, we didn't predict it was going to be the highly educated engineers that would be losing jobs first. Bronagh Riordan of EY, who chairs CeADAR, Ireland's national AI centre, added there is another side to this, as AI also free up time through automation. One example of this is healthcare, she said. 'You can automate repetitive tasks, and you can free up more of the time for healthcare experts to help our society.' Ms Scanlon told the committee Ireland is at a 'critical juncture' when it comes to AI. 'The choices we make now determine whether we shape this future or are shaped by it.' She also called for an 'AI Observatory', a national system tracking real-time impacts on jobs and skills as they happen. "Without it, we're navigating tomorrow's changes with yesterday's map."
Irish Times
19 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
AI involves ‘arms race betweeen nations' with ‘no easy option for Ireland', committee hears
Artificial Intelligence involves an 'arms race between nations' in which there are 'no easy options' for Ireland, an Oireachtas committee has heard. Members of the Government-appointed AI Advisory Council, a voluntary body that includes academics, business people and others with expertise in the field told politicians there are potential costs associated with Ireland seeking to be an international leader in the rapidly emerging field, including the area of energy and climate. They said these needed to be weighed against potential future losses to the State if it is left behind by international rivals, however, at a time when Government revenues may need to be maximised to deal with a significant number of people whose jobs are made redundant by the technology. Asked about how a decision to limit the number of data centres built in Ireland in the future or decisions to prevent future developments might impact on Ireland's ability to benefit from AI developments, the chief executive of a firm called Jentic said a key challenge for Ireland is to accelerate its development of renewable energy generation. READ MORE 'If we want to participate in the supply chain of the future at that level, we need to figure out our energy,' Sean Blanchfield told members of the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence. 'I don't think the data centres will be the controversial part if we have an abundance of energy, but I think we already have reached the end of our line in terms of how many data centres we as an economy are willing to build based on fossil fuels. 'So the question is really, what can we do to fix our energy infrastructure so that we can potentially participate in the future economy by helping run the AI and thereby sustain some kind of tax base in the future when we might very sorely need it after it displaces some labour.' The AI Advisory Council members, including its chair, Dr Patricia Scanlon, said new technologies will present enormous opportunities for society and individuals in areas like education and healthcare, but it is impossible to estimate how many jobs might be created. Mr Blanchfield said some job losses are already apparent. 'I think there's potential for massive economic disruption from AI,' he said. Data centre development was a potential positive, he suggested, if Ireland can address the energy issue 'because we have excelled at hosting data centres up until recently relative to our size. So we have the established expertise to do that.' But pressed on when the negative impact of AI on the employment landscape might start to be felt, he said the process was already under way. 'People in my industry are taking this technology and applying it to the first market they know, which is themselves. That's real, that's current,' he said. 'Entry-level programming jobs are largely replaced by AI now, certainly among the leading companies, and the job of the software engineers has moved up to more software architecture. I think if you speak to many lawyers, you find the same things happening in law firms.' With the technology advancing on a continuous basis, he suggested: 'If it's possible to automate the work of a software developer or a junior lawyer, you can automate a lot of things. It's just a question of repackaging that technology in due course. I think another one would be the customer service.' Ms Scanlon told the committee difficult choices would have to be made and she was 'not an AI advocate at all costs'. But asked the question what the cost to the country would have been of failing to engage with the development of the internet, she said, 'I think we need to invest resources'. 'We need task forces, we need experts, we need to collaborate with our European colleagues to solve this in a way that means Europe, Ireland, don't lose out or fall behind or become beholden to the US or Chinese governments, that we're not taking other people's AI because they didn't slow down. It's not easy, but it's a balancing act we have to face up to.'
Irish Times
20 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
AI ‘could significantly increase unemployment' Oireachtas committee told
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) may lead to job losses which could 'significantly increase unemployment' an Oireachtas committee was told on Tuesday, with experts warning that entry-level software engineering and legal roles are among the first sectors hit by AI job displacements. The chair of the AI Advisory Council, Patricia Scanlon said in her opening remarks to the Join Committee on Artificial Intelligence that AI has begun to perform roles previously occupied by humans which she said could lead to job losses. 'Even moderate job losses across multiple sectors could significantly increase unemployment,' she said, 'but we can't predict the pace or scale of this, or if lost jobs will be replaced.' Ms Scanlon called for plans to be developed for 'multiple eventualities' noting it is not possible to make long term predictions on the impact on the technology. READ MORE 'We need to ensure our tax base can fund ... if there are displacements and there are not replacement jobs,' she said. Asked which industries would see the first job losses as a result of AI, Sean Blanchfield, the chief executive of AI start up, Jentic and a member of the AI Advisory Council, warned that software roles are first in the firing line. 'Ironically enough, it will be the software engineers,' he said, noting that entry-level programming jobs are 'largely replaced by AI now, certainly among the leading companies.' He said that some software engineering roles have evolved into software architecture roles, with a similar shift taking place in entry-level legal roles. Customer service and jobs in the creative sector were also pointed out as roles that would be likely to be replaced in the sector. Trinity College Dublin professor in law, Deirdre Ahern, another member of the AI advisory council noted that human roles would still need to be present in the industries to 'interrogate the outputs' but that the number of roles would reduced and have a different focus. Ms Scanlon said the Government needs to put in place an AI Observatory to monitor the real time impacts of AI on jobs and skills 'as they happen' noting the State 'cannot be reactive' to the impacts of the new technology. 'There is an uncertain future,' Ms Scanlon said under questioning from Sinead Gibney, TD, 'One of the issues could very well be around the quality of work, even if there are new jobs or people are transitioning [to them], is it much like the gig workers where there is a lower quality of employment?'
Irish Times
20 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
AI involves ‘arms race betweeen nations' with ‘no easy option for Ireland', committe hears
Artificial Intelligence involves an 'arms race between nations' in which there are 'no easy options' for Ireland, an Oireachtas committee has heard. Members of the Government-appointed AI Advisory Council, a voluntary body that includes academics, business people and others with expertise in the field told politicians there are potential costs associated with Ireland seeking to be an international leader in the rapidly emerging field, including the area of energy and climate. They said these needed to be weighed against potential future losses to the State if it is left behind by international rivals, however, at a time when Government revenues may need to be maximised to deal with a significant number of people whose jobs are made redundant by the technology. Asked about how a decision to limit the number of data centres built in Ireland in the future or decisions to prevent future developments might impact on Ireland's ability to benefit from AI developments, the chief executive of a firm called Jentic said a key challenge for Ireland is to accelerate its development of renewable energy generation. READ MORE 'If we want to participate in the supply chain of the future at that level, we need to figure out our energy,' Sean Blanchfield told members of the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence. 'I don't think the data centres will be the controversial part if we have an abundance of energy, but I think we already have reached the end of our line in terms of how many data centres we as an economy are willing to build based on fossil fuels. 'So the question is really, what can we do to fix our energy infrastructure so that we can potentially participate in the future economy by helping run the AI and thereby sustain some kind of tax base in the future when we might very sorely need it after it displaces some labour.' The AI Advisory Council members, including its chair, Dr Patricia Scanlon, said new technologies will present enormous opportunities for society and individuals in areas like education and healthcare, but it is impossible to estimate how many jobs might be created. Mr Blanchfield said some job losses are already apparent. 'I think there's potential for massive economic disruption from AI,' he said. Data centre development was a potential positive, he suggested, if Ireland can address the energy issue 'because we have excelled at hosting data centres up until recently relative to our size. So we have the established expertise to do that.' But pressed on when the negative impact of AI on the employment landscape might start to be felt, he said the process was already under way. 'People in my industry are taking this technology and applying it to the first market they know, which is themselves. That's real, that's current,' he said. 'Entry-level programming jobs are largely replaced by AI now, certainly among the leading companies, and the job of the software engineers has moved up to more software architecture. I think if you speak to many lawyers, you find the same things happening in law firms.' With the technology advancing on a continuous basis, he suggested: 'If it's possible to automate the work of a software developer or a junior lawyer, you can automate a lot of things. It's just a question of repackaging that technology in due course. I think another one would be the customer service.' Ms Scanlon told the committee difficult choices would have to be made and she was 'not an AI advocate at all costs'. But asked the question what the cost to the country would have been of failing to engage with the development of the internet, she said, 'I think we need to invest resources'. 'We need task forces, we need experts, we need to collaborate with our European colleagues to solve this in a way that means Europe, Ireland, don't lose out or fall behind or become beholden to the US or Chinese governments, that we're not taking other people's AI because they didn't slow down. It's not easy, but it's a balancing act we have to face up to.'
