Irish organisations see AI agent potential, but have yet to grasp its transformative powers

Many businesses in Ireland expect AI agents to reshape the workplace, drive productivity and reduce costs. Irish firms see the opportunities from AI agents.  There is more to do on realising agentic AI transformative potential.  Investment plans are set to increase but adoption and trust in the capabilities of AI agents remain low. Further investment will unlock AI agents’ transformative potential, enhancing Irish organisations to keep pace with their US counterparts.

These are some of the key findings from PwC Ireland’s 2025 survey of AI agents, a comprehensive new study examining the adoption and trends of AI agents across Irish organisations and comparing the results to a similar PwC US survey, published today. The results highlight a pivotal opportunity for Irish business leaders to accelerate their AI journey and build trust in the technology.

Investment in AI agents set to increase, but pace of adoption at scale is slow 

Irish organisations are accelerating their investment in AI agents, with 70% planning to increase their AI-related budget due to interest in agentic AI in the year ahead (US: 88%). This signals the growing momentum among Irish organisations to scale their AI capabilities.  

Yet despite this investment momentum, less than one in ten (9%) Irish respondents reported broad adoption of AI agents, with a further 83% reporting limited adoption or are exploring AI agents.  When compared to earlier PwC Irish data there is a positive shift of the dial, albeit small. PwC Ireland’s Gen AI Business Leaders survey published in January 2025 reported that just 6% of Irish firms had widespread AI adoption.  A further 67% of respondents said that they were either at the testing or partial implementation stages of AI adoption.  

At the same time, PwC’s new survey of AI agents revealed that over half (53%) of Irish respondents confirmed measurable productivity gains from AI agents (US: 66%), but only 38% said that this is translating into tangible cost savings (US:57%).   This gap suggests that while Irish businesses are committing resources, many have yet to unlock the full strategic value of AI agents. It also highlights the continued challenge of converting the personal productivity gains enabled by AI into enterprise productivity gains that positively impact the bottom line.  

David Lee, Chief Technology Officer, PwC Ireland, said: “The results highlight that Irish organisations are taking their time focusing on experimenting with AI agents, enabling them to understand and trust the technology, rather than rushing to full scale adoption. Irish organisations are focusing on operational and support functions, while US companies are leveraging AI agents more aggressively across a wider range of business areas, including innovation and strategic functions. This suggests significant opportunity for Irish business leaders to expand the use of AI agents beyond core operations and future-proof their businesses.”  

Transformative potential clear, but most at early stages 

Over half (54%) of Irish business leaders believe that AI agents will deliver a significant competitive advantage in the year ahead (US:73%), but most are still at the early stages of transformation.  Underscoring the potential of AI agents, nearly three out of ten (29%) Irish organisations believe that their operating model will materially change in two years due to AI agents (US: 50%). The findings highlight a clear opportunity for Irish organisations to accelerate adoption and fully realise the transformative potential of agentic AI. 

However, the survey highlights that the impact to date of AI agents on innovation, profitability and business transformation remains limited.   For example, just 16% of Irish respondents are developing new agentic products and services (US: 44%), a similar proportion (16%) said that AI agents are delivering improved profitability (US: 39%); just 11% are redesigning processes around AI agents (US: 42%); and the generation of new revenue streams remains embryonic in the Irish marketplace (Ireland: 4%; US: 29%).   

Amy Ball, Business Transformation Leader, PwC Ireland, commented: “AI agents aren’t just the future — they’re already on the job, with the ability to deliver real results.  Irish organisations are ramping up investment, but are not yet seeing the returns that are possible.   

“Agentic AI presents a clear opportunity to rethink how business and work gets done, but many organisations have yet to fully embrace the scale of reinvention required to remain competitive and resilient. Bold strategic shifts are needed.  The findings highlight a clear opportunity for Irish businesses to accelerate adoption and fully realise the transformative potential of agentic AI.  For many Irish organisations, AI agents are currently delivering incremental rather than transformative value, underlining the need to expand use cases and focus on higher value activities.”   

AI agents set to reshape the workforce, but a fundamental rethink of how work gets done is needed 

According to the survey, the power of AI agents is set to reshape the workforce but a fundamental rethink is needed.  Organisations that invest in upskilling and redesigning work around AI agents will be better positioned to lead transformation and attract the talent needed to scale. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Irish respondents are of the view that AI agents will reshape the workplace more than the internet did (US: 75%).  Nearly half (44%) said that AI agents will drastically transform many existing roles in their organisation within the next 12 months (US: 67%).  However, just 18% reported to be fundamentally rethinking their operating model and how work is done due to AI agents, compared to 45% in the US. 

Agentic AI presents a clear opportunity to rethink how work gets done, but many organisations have yet to fully embrace the scale of reinvention required to remain competitive and resilient. 

Data issues need to be addressed if AI opportunity is to be maximised 

Irish respondents reported data issues (40%) to be the top barrier getting in the way of realising value from AI agents, significantly more concerning than for US counterparts (24%).  Integrating AI agents with legacy systems (Ireland: 36%; US: 24%) is also a greater hurdle in Ireland.  Together, these challenges point to the foundational importance of modernising data infrastructure and ensuring responsible data practices necessary to build trust in the technology and unlock the full potential of agentic AI. 

Mindsets holding back AI agents  

In PwC’s experience, right now, people are also holding back the wider adoption of AI.    When it comes to AI agents, mindsets are often a key hurdle.  And that’s exactly where the opportunity lies.  Some of the real challenges are those that were ranked towards the bottom of the list of challenges in the survey and are rooted in people and organisational change.  These include: the ability to connect AI agents across applications and workflows (Ireland: 16%; US:19%), organisational change keeping pace with AI advancements (Ireland: 13%; US: 17%) and employee adoption (Ireland:4%; US: 14%). Irish businesses must therefore prioritise workforce engagement, upskilling and change management to overcome these barriers.  

Broadening of focus to include front-office transformation 

The survey suggests a broadening of focus from initial back-office automation to include front-office transformation.  For example, Irish respondents confirmed that customer service support (49%) is the top business function in which AI agents are applied (US: 57%), followed by operations (Ireland: 38%) and finance & accounting (Ireland: 38%). Just three out of ten (29%) Irish organisations are using AI agents in their sales & marketing function (US: 54%).  At its core, AI is a prime tool for content creation and, therefore, an ideal use case from which to derive value in this area.  

AI agents: a powerful tool in cyber defence, but full potential not being realised 

Less than one in three (29%) Irish respondents said that they are using AI agents for cyber defence (US: 53%). Just 4% are improving their ability to detect and prevent cyber threats using AI agents (US:37%).  PwC’s 2026 Digital Trust Survey showed that more than one third (35%) of organisations globally are prioritising agentic AI as a security capability over the next 12 months, highlighting its growing role in safeguarding data, systems and decision-making. 

Trust is key to unlocking high stakes potential 

Trust in AI agents among Irish companies remains low both in absolute terms and when compared with the US, with only 7% expressing high trust across multiple functions and activities (US: 28%).  For example, none of the Irish respondents reported to highly trust AI agents to conduct financial transactions (US: 20%); just 4% reported to trust them to act autonomously in customer interactions (US: 25%) and only 7% trust AI agents to analyse data and generate insights (US: 38%). For Irish organisations, building trust through transparency, oversight and robust governance will be essential in the months ahead. 

David Lee, Chief Technology Officer, PwC Ireland, concluded: “Looking ahead, the findings suggest that Irish organisations are at a pivotal moment. As early productivity gains are realised, we expect adoption to broaden beyond core operational functions, with a growing focus on innovation, new product development and strategic decision-making. 

“Organisations should broaden their mindset from seeing AI as an efficiency driver to a reinvention enabler.  This will help organisations look beyond their back-office operations to their customer facing revenue generating activities.  This, combined with a continued focus on building a foundation of responsible AI practices, and investing in the upskilling of their people will allow organisations to maximise their potential afforded by agentic AI.”

Notes to the editor

PwC advocates five moves to accelerate an organisation’s AI journey:

1. Broaden AI mindset from efficiency to reinvention enabler 
2. Expand adoption beyond the back office  
3. Strengthen trust through responsible AI practice 
4. Prioritise workforce engagement and upskilling 
5. Address data and integration challenges on a prioritised basis