AI (Artificial Intelligence) has become ubiquitous in almost every conversation relating to technology. A new report from Microsoft Ireland and Trinity College Dublin Business School reveals that AI Adoption in Northern Ireland (NI) has surged, with 88% of organisations reporting that they are now using AI in some form for work purposes.
Sync NI recently sat down with Kieran McCorry, National Technology Director at Microsoft Ireland to explore how AI has the potential for substantial improvements in productivity, efficiency, and revenue for Northern Ireland.
While Artificial Intelligence (AI) appears to have only recently embedded itself into the modern consciousness, AI is hardly a new phenomenon given its roots date back to the early days of modern computing in the 1950’s. The concept itself was arguably originated from Alan Turing and Donald Michie’s work at Bletchley Park during the early 40’s on the possibility of building intelligent computer programmes. Turing’s 1950s paper, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, known today as The Turing Test, explored how to build intelligent machines and test their intelligence.
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Over the subsequent decades, AI has continued to develop and evolve and today the current focus is on generative AI, the technology that underpins Microsoft’s suite of AI products called Microsoft Copilot.
Generative AI, such as Copilot, is a form of technology that can create new content by finding patterns in large amounts of data. It can do tasks that involve reasoning, learning, and decision-making by using advanced machine learning models that mimic some human thinking processes. All of the algorithms associated with it have advanced considerably. The huge explosion in the amount of data that's available on the internet has opened up a new paradigm in terms of possibilities and opportunities.
Kieran expands:‘It's about generating new content. It could be text, it could be images, it could be video, it could be computer code, for example. When we talk about people using AI, either in a consumer setting or in a business setting, we're generally talking about generative AI, and from a Microsoft perspective, that would be Copilot, which is embedded into pretty much every one of our products today, and that technology is there to assist and augment the way that people work’
In short, AI a tool to make people more efficient, more productive, to allow them to take the drudgery out of their work and focus less on the more mundane activities enabling more time to focus on tasks that are more meaningful to them in their work, and to be more strategic.
From the same report 86% of the respondents surveyed view AI as a key driver for economic growth and job creation. In Kieran’s view there is enormous potential for those sectors that by their very nature process large amounts of data and information, particularly in financial services, and especially healthcare to help improve diagnostic accuracy. In some cases, AI systems have demonstrated the ability to outperform skilled physicians in specific diagnostic tasks, offering significant potential for enhancing patient care.
There are also huge benefits to be gained within the public sector in the form of governmental organisations with vast quantities of information published on websites that they want to make available to citizens.
AI can allow people to interact with that data much more comfortably and casually, and to allow them to get very specific answers to their questions without having to parse through huge volumes of content and different websites, and it has to be said, from time to time, encounter different answers.
While there is no doubt that AI can transform business processes, generate efficiencies and increase productivity there are questions and concerns about the scale and impact of jobs being replaced by the technology. With AI, the rate and pace of change will be significant but so too will the opportunities for new job creation.
In terms of the impact that AI will have on the workforce, Kieran is quick to point out that it's not so much replacing jobs, it's transforming the way that people work. The Microsoft President Brad Smith talks about this as a general purpose technology, akin to the advent of electricity. Processes and industrial techniques, for example, that wereeither manual or steam powered, became much more efficient when they became electrified.
Kieran references the fact that with the advent of every new technology throughout history there is an inevitable displacement of jobs. Even looking back to the 30s and Keynes, from an economics perspective, there has always been a concern that as jobs develop, there's a tension between the advancement of technology and the ability of the economy to create new jobs as it seeks to leverage and harness that technology.
There are jobs that we don't see anymore, which seemed conventional at the time and now they just seem antiquated. You can look at human operated telephone switchboard systems and it would be almost amazing to think that to place a call now you would have to speak to a human to move one cable from one slot and plug it into another, because these things become automated.
There is no doubt that we are going to see a shift in the types of jobs that people do that will naturally flow from advancements in technology. While it’s unlikely we will see an overnight kind of change, if you look back at industrial developments over the last 40 or 50 years, there's consistently been a gradual change. With AI, the sense is that we will continue to witness change albeit probably at a little bit more accelerated pace than we've seen previously.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, the question of job creation and workforce reskilling is paramount. Companies are faced with the decision to either invest in reskilling their workforce or outsource these skills to third parties. Based on recent research on AI adoption in Northern Ireland, it is evident that a significant challenge lies in the lack of skills within the workplace. This challenge must be addressed head-on to ensure successful AI integration.
Kieran is conscious of the challenges ahead in terms of the abilities of different types of companies to address that skills gap. Typically, bigger companies have more resources and more competence and capabilities at their disposal and therefore better placed to provide mechanisms to skill their employees. Smaller companies however tend to be very much focused on doing their day-to-day business so it's more of a challenge for them. For Kieran ‘it's imperative that SME’s get the proper mechanisms in place to ensure AI skilling for their employees otherwise I have no doubt they'll be left behind. If the company itself can't provide those mechanisms they're going to have to look to external companies to provide that kind of skilling for them’
Kieran believes there is also a big role for the state to play to ensure the right mechanisms and the right supports are put in place for indigenous businesses to be able to train and skill up their employees for AI. The Government has a track record of doing this in the past supporting technological progress and advancement particularly within the cybersecurity space.
The recent Programme for Government report has expressly referenced AI, not just for adoption within public sector, but also to put in place the right mechanisms and supports to drive AI adoption across enterprises and industry in the region. The Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre, a joint endeavour with Queens and Ulster Universities and the Department of the Economy is for Kieran a significant step in the right direction and a testament to the collaborative effort required to advance AI adoption.
The integration of AI into the education system is another critical aspect to consider. Northern Ireland has a strong track record in adapting its education system to changes, resulting in some of the best educational outcomes in the UK. A sharper focus on AI within the STEM agenda is essential and programmes such as Microsoft's Dream Space sited at W5 in The Odyssey exposes students to STEM-based technology and AI, are vital in this regard. A recent study from the Education Authority in Northern Ireland in respect to the use of Copilot by teachers and pupils has shown promising results. From making lesson planning easier and report writing better, there were marked improvements, particularly in the cohort of students with special education needs.
As AI is increasingly adopted universally and globally there are challenges ahead if Northern Ireland is to remain competitive and relevant in the global economy.
Kieran identifies the need for greater focus on a national strategy in Northern Ireland for artificial intelligence and to come up with strong material guidance for how businesses can usefully deploy and utilise AI. This will enable local businesses to be much more competitive on the global playing field. Without targeted interventions, Northern Ireland risks falling behind in the AI race. It is a stark warning, but one that must be heeded to ensure the region's competitiveness and relevance in the global economy.
The UK government's AI action plan, which identifies regions for specific AI focus, is a step in the right direction. Northern Ireland's Department for Economy has also submitted a proposal for a specific focus on AI, highlighting the region's commitment to this technology. Northern Ireland, as Kieran points out has a good track record when it comes to delivering success and cites The Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence as a potential blueprint. The North South Ministerial Council has also recognised AI as a core objective and there is clearly scope for greater cross border cooperation in this area.
With all new technologies there will always be an internal debate between first mover advantage and the need to balance risk and reward. A lack of knowledge fuels reticence to invest in technologies without a clear understanding of the return on investment against the potential for improved productivity and efficiencies.
Research showed that just over 50% of respondents in NI believe that AI could make a significant difference to their business. Kieran is clearly disappointed with the perceived low confidence and believes, based on previous experience, this is mostly due to companies failing to plan or prepare properly to align the AI with business objectives. Subsequently this has resulted in ad hoc AI pilots without proper business planning and managed by organisations without the proper skills resulting in 54% of those pilots not making it into production. The lesson is clear, without proper planning and in-house skilled staff with an intrinsic understanding of AI technology aligned with the business requirements, projects risk failure at the first hurdle. In such circumstances it will require some form of partner or other vendor to work with to make the opportunity realistic.
Wherever you are on the AI adoption curve, it is essential that businesses have effective AI policies in place on how the use of artificial intelligence is going to be governed and controlled within organisations.
Companies can potentially find themselves compromised and end up in a scenario where people are operating AI projects outside of a good governance structure within the business, often using consumer grade AI technologies, not enterprise grade AI technologies.
The same research paper found that only around 10% of companies explicitly prohibited the use of AI in the workplace while a significantly higher number in the region of 60% allowed its use yet did not have a specific AI policy in place.
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For Kieran this represents a serious and potentially damaging risk of data loss and data leakage with far reaching implications.
In summary, to fully exploit the enormous competitive advantage that AI can bring to your organisation it boils down to identifying the right project; ensuring the right skills are embedded to successfully manage the project and having the right governance model in place.
In terms of risk and reward, failure to properly adopt AI will inevitably lead to the demise of organisations and displacement of jobs in the old economy. On the other hand, successful adoption of AI has the potential to grow and evolve the economy ensuring future prosperity and greater opportunities for everyone.
Sync NI's Summer 2025 magazine celebrates women in tech across Ireland as we continue to encourage more women to enter the thriving sector and address the current gender imbalance. Read the Summer 2025 Sync NI Magazine online for free here.
