Expleo reveals Irish business leaders show lack of trust in AI to carry out basic tasks as sentiment remains low

Expleo, the global technology and consulting service provider, has announced the July results of its AI Pulse sentiment tracker for Ireland. The data shows that June’s dip in AI confidence continued into July. Business leaders in Ireland are now the most pessimistic among their European peers across every sentiment measured in the AI Pulse.

Expleo’s monthly AI Pulse barometer is carried out by Opinium among 800 business leaders in Ireland, the UK, Germany and France. Last month’s results found that 54% of business leaders in Ireland are worried about how AI is transformingtheir businesses, compared to an average of 41% elsewhere in Europe. Additionally, 50% in Ireland are worried about the impact that AI will have on their job, versus 39% in other locations.

Expleo’s research also shows that business leaders in Ireland are the least likely across the countries surveyed to be excited by AI (60% in Ireland Vs 67%); the least likely to trust their organisation to use AI ethically (62% in Ireland Vs 73%); and the least likely to see AI primarily as a benefit to their business (54% in Ireland Vs 63%).

Three in five (60%) business leaders in Ireland would trust AI to act autonomously to summarise emails, documents and meeting notes, compared to a 71% average elsewhere in Europe. Meanwhile, 27% in Ireland would trust AI to make hiring or HR-related decisions, versus 42% in Europe.

Phil Codd, Managing Director – Ireland, Expleo, said: “Irish organisations may have one of the highest AI adoption rates in the world, but business leaders are wary of its impact. Recent news about rogue AI agents have shown the importance of human oversight, and so, to a certain extent, all business leaders should be cautious. But at what point does healthy vigilance become inertia? If business leaders are worrying about AI summarising a document, are they ready for agentic AI?

“Embedding strong governance, risk and compliance frameworks will be key in ensuring the successful, safe adoption of AI. With new transparency rules now in effect from the EU AI Act, organisations will be subject to stricter regulations regarding the use of AI. Business leaders must use their organisation’s compliance with the Act, and accompany guardrails, to explore AI more before being permanently left behind.”

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