AI has started to impact entry-level jobs in this country, the finance sector is at high risk
Will AI reduce jobs for humans? Ireland is finding that this is already happening in entry-level roles, particularly in the finance sector.
While artificial intelligence has long been considered a threat to entry-level jobs, Ireland now appears to be one of the first countries to actually face the wrath of this machine-led automation. A new Economic Insights paper from the Department of Finance shows that AI is already reshaping the country’s labor market, with junior roles and young workers in finance and technology particularly exposed. The report warns that, given the high concentration of knowledge-intensive sectors in Ireland, it could be the first region in Europe to feel the impact of AI disruption.
❮❯
Detailed analysis published by the Irish Ministry of Finance earlier this week provides early indications that AI is already impacting jobs in highly digitized sectors such as information and communications technology (ICT), financial services and professional activities.
“Given the high concentration of employment in knowledge-intensive sectors such as ICT, financial services and professional activities, Ireland’s labor market is particularly exposed to AI,” the report said.
The report says AI is already impacting hiring trends, with “at risk” sectors seeing much slower job growth after 2023. “These effects are particularly pronounced for young workers in highly digitalized sectors, which is consistent with the emerging international literature,” the study says.
The Irish ministry’s warning about ongoing AI-led disruption comes at a time when global technology leaders leading major AI teams are becoming increasingly vocal about how technology could reshape the world of work. Recently, Microsoft’s AI chief Mustafa Suleiman warned that most white-collar work could be completely automated within the next 12 to 18 months. He told the Financial Times that tasks involving “sitting at a computer”, including accounting and legal work, marketing and project management, are likely to soon be automated by AI.
Earlier, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei also predicted that AI could eliminate half of entry-level white-collar jobs within the next one to five years, especially in law, finance and technology, where routine tasks are easier to automate. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has similarly cautioned that merely knowing how to use AI tools will not guarantee long-term job security, even for those who are proficient with them. According to Gates, only a few sectors, including software development, energy and biology, may remain relatively resilient to AI.
Meanwhile, xAI CEO Elon Musk has argued that AI and robotics could eventually replace almost all jobs. He described AI as a “supersonic tsunami” that could make work optional in the future. For software engineers in particular, he recently suggested that AI will take over coding by 2026, the same task that has traditionally defined the profession.
While some leaders are ringing alarm bells, some optimistic thoughts are also floating around. For example, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, believes that although AI will take away some jobs, it will also create many jobs, with AI agents acting as virtual co-workers rather than full replacements. Meanwhile, Nvidia chief Jensen Huang argues that people will not lose jobs because of AI, but the jobs of those who use AI better. He predicts strong demand in the physical sciences and skilled occupations needed to build and maintain AI infrastructure.
