Looking ahead to 2026, leaders have a unique chance to convert early gains into lasting, enterprise‑wide impact. Achieving this means learning from the signals 2025 delivered and acting boldly on them.
What 2025 made clear
AI‑driven productivity gains are no longer theoretical; they’re real and accelerating worldwide. Industries with the highest AI adoption have seen productivity nearly quadruple since 2022, while revenue per employee is growing three times faster than in sectors with lower AI penetration. In short, organisations that equipped their workforce with AI tools in 2025 didn’t just save time, they outperformed.
These gains are starting to redefine global competitiveness. Companies that scale AI across their entire workforce, not just in isolated pockets, are already pulling ahead of those that hesitate.
Workers see the value, but access lags
According to our Hopes & Fears Survey, 43% of Irish workers use some form of AI in their job. Among those using AI, most reported improved productivity, faster task completion, and materially better work quality. Yet only 10% use AI daily.
Workers want AI that’s easy to integrate into everyday tasks but inconsistent access to tools, uneven training and concerns about governance, and job security are barriers. The message from 2025 is clear: unlocking value requires a workforce‑wide adoption strategy, not just technology procurement.
Skills are shifting faster than organisations can keep up
The biggest skills winners in 2025 weren’t just technical experts, they were people who blended AI fluency with human strengths: critical thinking, creativity, problem‑solving, and responsible judgement. Organisations that invested in upskilling and skills‑based hiring saw the strongest performance gains.
Responsible AI became a workforce issue, not a policy one
2025 showed that trust is now a determining factor in AI adoption. Workers want transparency, clear guardrails, and confidence that AI is designed to support and not replace them. Leading organisations made responsible AI training part of onboarding, performance, leadership development and culture. This trend mirrors leaders’ priorities: our CEO Survey shows that Irish leaders see Responsible AI as a leading trust concern (28%).
What to expect in 2026
1. The AI generalist becomes the defining workforce profile
In 2026, organisations will increasingly rely on AI generalists—workers who pair broad business understanding with the ability to direct, interpret and quality‑check AI outputs. As agentic AI handles more specialised tasks, these hybrid roles become essential, shifting human work toward judgement, creativity, and oversight. Companies that redesign roles and career paths around this emerging generalist profile will unlock faster productivity gains and build a more adaptable, future‑ready workforce.
2. The shift from experimentation to enterprise-wide workforce transformation
The most successful organisations will move from isolated pilots to enterprise‑wide integration. AI will be embedded into job architecture, performance models, workflow design, and everyday decision‑making—even as immediate financial returns remain elusive for many, as our CEO Survey shows. Leaders who treat AI as a tool will fall behind those who treat it as a workforce strategy.
3. Productivity gaps will widen dramatically
Early adopters have momentum. In 2026, we’ll likely see measurable performance differentials between organisations (and even countries) that scale AI skills and tools and those that don’t. Productivity, wage growth, and innovation capacity will increasingly cluster around AI‑enabled workforces.
4. Skills‑based models will become the global standard
With skills evolving at unprecedented speed, employers will continue shifting away from degree‑based hiring. Expect to see uptake of skill passports, AI‑enabled learning pathways, and competency‑first career frameworks. Workers who build AI fluency, and the complementary human skills that amplify it, will see outsized opportunity.
5. Leaders will be judged on how they enable people, not just how they deploy AI
The defining leadership challenge of 2026 won’t be deploying AI; it will be unlocking human potential at scale. Irish CEOs report spending 58% of their time on sub‑one‑year issues versus 10% on horizons of five years or more, reinforcing the need to hard‑wire ‘bigger picture’ AI strategies into ways of working, not just tools. The organisations that treat AI as a catalyst for better work, deeper skills and more empowered people will set the pace for global productivity and competitiveness. Those that hesitate risk more than missed efficiency gains; they risk losing the confidence of their workforce. 2026 will reward leaders who act with clarity, conviction and humanity.
We are here to help you
We bring deep, practical expertise in turning AI ambition into workforce‑level results. Our teams work across industries to design skills‑based operating models and operationalise responsible AI with clear guardrails and measurement. If an objective view would help, get in touch today to start the conversation.
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