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There’s a lot of noise around AI at the moment.
If you only went by the headlines, you would think we were on the edge of a dramatic shift – jobs disappearing, roles being replaced, and businesses fundamentally changing overnight. It can feel unsettling.
But from what we’re seeing here at Barden, speaking with businesses and talent every day, the reality feels much more measured than that. And importantly, a lot less scary.
A lot of the conversation still centres around technical roles in tech companies – software engineering, data, infrastructure, cybersecurity – as if that’s where the biggest impact of AI will be felt.
And yes, those roles are evolving. That’s undeniable.
But what’s more interesting to me is what’s happening in non-tech roles within tech companies – HR, Finance. Operations, Marketing, Talent acquisition, Customer success – the teams that keep businesses moving.
These are the areas where AI is already making a real difference – taking repetition out of day-to-day work, reducing admin-heavy tasks, speeding up reporting, helping with communication, organising information, and supporting better decision-making.
Not replacing people. Just removing some of the repetitive, manual parts of work.
And that’s a very different conversation from the one we’re hearing in the media.
Because if AI starts taking care of the more routine tasks, what’s left becomes the work that people are best at – judgement, relationship building, creativity, and commercial thinking. The human part.
That should be seen as an opportunity, not a threat.
We are also still early. While the headlines can make it feel like AI is already reshaping everything, most businesses in Ireland are still in the experimentation phase – figuring out practical use cases, improving processes, saving time where they can.
Small wins. Incremental change. Not an overnight transformation.
And maybe that’s the reality behind the headlines.
AI isn’t arriving as one big disruptive moment. It’s quietly becoming another tool that changes how work gets done, bit by bit.
That feels a lot more manageable. And, in many ways, a lot more positive than the headlines would have you believe…
Connect with Lorraine at lorraine.oleary@barden.ie.