AI Adoption in Ireland: The Three Tiers Emerging

AI adoption in Ireland is entering a new phase.

I am currently collecting findings from our AI Leaders Survey, speaking with organisations across Ireland that are trying to move AI from experimentation into real business adoption.

The results are still coming in, and as you would expect, they are mixed.

But one pattern is becoming increasingly clear.

The difference between organisations is no longer simply who is using AI.

It is how deeply AI is being embedded into the business.

Three distinct tiers are emerging.

Tier 1: Give Everyone AI

A large number of organisations are asking:

“How do we onboard 3,000 employees onto Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT?”

The focus here is adoption.

Give employees access to AI assistants. Train them to use the tools well. Put sensible governance around them. Help people save time on writing, research, meetings, analysis and everyday work.

This matters.

But increasingly, it is becoming the starting point, not the destination.

The question moves from:

How many people are using AI?

to:

What business processes are actually changing because of AI?

Giving people access to AI can create individual productivity gains.

But the bigger opportunity comes when organisations begin looking beyond the individual and asking how AI can change the way work itself gets done.

Tier 2: Build AI Into the Work

The next group is asking a very different question:

“Help us build our first end-to-end AI agent outside the technology team.”

This is where AI starts moving beyond the individual assistant.

Instead of helping someone complete one task faster, organisations begin redesigning entire workflows.

Customer requests can be triaged automatically.

Invoices can be checked and routed.

Employee onboarding can be coordinated.

Sales opportunities can be researched, updated and followed up.

AI starts doing parts of the work, while people supervise, approve and handle exceptions.

For many organisations, this is where the biggest opportunity now sits.

Not simply AI as a tool, but AI as part of the operating model.

The shift is subtle but important.

Tier 1 asks:

How can AI help our people work faster?

Tier 2 asks:

How should this work be redesigned now that AI exists?

That is a much bigger question.

Tier 3: Build an AI Advantage

Then there is a smaller group asking questions such as:

“Can we use or fine-tune an open-source model to reduce the cost of running our agents by 35%?”

They are playing a different game.

They are thinking about model choice, infrastructure, proprietary data, cost, performance and control.

Instead of relying on one AI platform for everything, they are deciding which models should handle which tasks.

They are asking where they should build, where they should buy and where their own data can create an advantage that competitors cannot easily copy.

At this level, AI becomes less about adopting technology and more about building organisational capability.

These companies are beginning to think of AI as infrastructure.

Something that sits across the organisation, connects data, automates work and improves decisions.

The Gap Is Starting to Widen

What we are seeing in AI adoption in Ireland is that each tier requires a very different level of maturity.

Tier 1: Give people AI.

Tier 2: Redesign work with AI.

Tier 3: Build competitive advantage with AI.

There is nothing wrong with starting at Tier 1.

In fact, most organisations need to.

People need access to the tools.

They need confidence using them.

They need clear policies, practical training and safe ways to experiment.

The mistake is assuming that rolling out an AI assistant means the organisation has completed its AI transformation.

It has only begun.

The companies moving into Tiers 2 and 3 are not simply asking:

“How do we use AI?”

They are asking:

“What can we now do differently because AI exists?”

That may prove to be the more important question.

As AI adoption in Ireland accelerates, the gap between organisations simply using AI and those redesigning their businesses around it is likely to become increasingly significant.

The real measure of AI adoption may not be how many employees have access to an AI tool.

It may be how much of the organisation has actually changed because of it.

Which tier are you in today — and what would it take to move to the next one?

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Written by Mark Kelly

AI Keynote Speaker | Founder, AI Ireland | Co-Founder, Alldus | Podcast Host

Mark Kelly is an AI keynote speaker and advisor who helps business leaders understand how AI is changing work, organisations and competitive advantage — and, most importantly, what to do about it. He is the Founder of AI Ireland, focused on understanding and accelerating practical AI adoption across Ireland, and Co-Founder of an international AI and cybersecurity staffing company.

Since 2018, Mark has interviewed hundreds of AI and technology leaders through the AI Ireland Podcast and also his co-founding firm’s Cyber Podcast.

Through the AI Awards, he has reviewed more than 1,000 AI applications and projects, giving him a unique view of how organisations are moving AI from experimentation into real-world adoption.

Mark speaks to leadership teams, boards and conferences about practical AI adoption, AI leadership, the future of work and how organisations can turn AI into measurable business outcomes.

He holds an MSc in Strategic Management and Planning from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.

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Mark Kelly delivers practical, high-energy keynotes for leadership teams, boards and conferences on AI adoption, AI leadership and the future of work.

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The focus is simple:

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