Research amongst Irish business leaders carried out by PwC revealed that a surge in AI experimentation and innovation is happening but Irish business leaders need to continue to engage with the technology to reap the rewards.   In June 2024, less than half (47 per cent) of respondents to PwC’s GenAI Business Leaders survey were engaged in experimentation. By December 2024 that had risen to nearly seven out of ten (67 per cent).

While there is a clear appreciation for the opportunities that AI can bring, PwC’s survey also revealed that business leaders realise that safe, successful and sustained AI adoption is a complex process that requires careful planning and coordination. That is reflected in the fact that just 6 per cent of respondents reported widespread adoption of AI in their organisations and this has remained below ten percent since November 2023, PwC’s inaugural GenAI Business Leaders Survey.

But the first wave of business AI adoption reveals a telling disconnect: PwC’s 2025 Irish CEO survey highlights an emerging value gap -  a critical challenge as organisations navigate their AI transformation journeys.  The data exposes a clear pattern in early AI implementation. While a significant portion of organisations are seeing operational benefits — with 44% of executives citing increased efficiencies in their employees time at work in the last 12 months— there’s a marked drop when it comes to financial outcomes. The fact that only 24% reported profitability growth arising from these initiatives suggests that many organisations are still struggling to convert operational efficiencies into tangible business value.

Seizing the opportunities - moving the dial

However, there is broad agreement on the significant positive impact that AI is likely to have with the majority (55%) of respondents saying it will have a significant or transformative impact on their organisations over the next five years. Half of Irish CEOs believe that GenAI will increase profitability in the next 12 months. 

It is not a surprise that the current focus of AI related innovation is on efficiency gains rather than more radical business model reinvention. Over four-out-of-ten (42%) global CEOs believe that their company will not be viable beyond the next decade if it continues on its current path.  And AI and GenAI technologies present a great opportunity to accelerate the disruption of business models and improve productivity.  In PwC’s experience, organisations need to build the confidence and trust in the technologies before they are willing to use them as the bedrock for more fundamental transformation. We believe that the dial will move materially in the next twelve months.

Responsible AI, skills, business cases need attention

With four out of ten (44%) survey respondents still believing that controls over safe and secure adoption of AI are not adequate, time is needed to build trust in AI.  Business leaders want to know that they are implementing AI responsibly.  It is not surprising, therefore, that organisations’ immediate focus is on ensuring the right guard rails are in place before they move to adoption at scale.  

PwC’s research reveals that nearly three-quarters (73%) of business leaders are of the view that AI will require most of their workforce to develop new skills. To maximise the benefits of AI, organisations need to support their employees to ensure that they have the relevant skills, as well as being AI literate under the new EU AI Act. 

Another key inhibitor to adoption at scale is the lack of a clear business case for AI deployment. Organisations want to understand how they can monetise AI, how the freeing up of capacity may be turned into commercial return from investments. They need to have confidence in their ability to stand over the return on investment. PwC’s research reveals that less than half (46 per cent) of Irish business leaders are confident in their organisation’s ability to assess a return on investment from their current AI initiatives. 

When people see AI in action it sparks new ideas. People start to ask if it can be used in one area, what else might it be able to do. The capability of the products is also advancing at pace. What started out as intelligent data retrieval tools have now gone much further than that. They are designed for specific use cases in areas like finance, marketing, HR and so on.

Great promise from Agentic AI

Agentic AI (sophisticated systems capable of performing tasks autonomously, analysing data and aiding decision-making) holds out great promise. It translates knowledge into action and allows organisations to monetise the efficiency gains and time savings.  PwC and Microsoft have recently announced a strategic collaboration to transform industries with AI agents. This collaboration seeks to harness AI's potential to drive business value, enhance customer engagement and streamline operations across various sectors. Together, PwC and Microsoft will provide organisations with the tools needed to embrace AI agents as strategic assets that enhance efficiency and drive innovation.  

Based on our research and experience with clients in the PwC GenAI Business Centre, enabled by Microsoft, we can expect advances in Agentic AI to enable the following key AI trends over the coming years:

1. AI will fundamentally disrupt businesses. It will transform business models, with new products/services and revenue models. It will redesign workflows. The winning companies will monetise AI. Greater efficiencies and productivity will see more sustainable businesses emerge.
2. AI will bring the competitive landscape to new levels. This will include even more organisations previously not in your industry entering your market space looking to take your customers.  
3. Agentic AI will have transformative impacts on the workforce. Agentic AI will bridge the value gap, presenting the ability to monetise the AI opportunity - moving from personal productivity to enterprise productivity. 82% of Irish business leaders are already expecting AI to increase efficiencies in their employees’ time at work. 

More engagement with AI is critical to reap the full rewards. Capturing AI’s full potential requires a more strategic approach to value creation. The focus should be on how AI can enhance operational efficiency, transform customer experiences and drive revenue growth and profitability. Success lies in not just implementing AI tools and enabling personal productivity, but in fundamentally rethinking how these capabilities can drive profitable enterprise growth.