Report by Trinity College and Microsoft shows AI 'freeing up' 5,000 hours in large firms

Digital inequality growing, says AI Economy Ireland report

Kieran McCorry, Microsoft National Technology Officer. Catherine Doyle, General Manager, Microsoft Ireland, and Professor Ashish Kumar Jha, ADAPT Centre, Trinity College Dublin at the launch of the AI Economy Report.

Large organisations in Ireland are "freeing up" 5,000 hours per month through use of AI, a report by Trinity College Dublin and Microsoft Ireland has found.

The AI Economy Ireland 2026 report says a typical mid-sized organisation in Ireland is freeing up to 1,000 hours a month through everyday AI use, "driven by reduced time spent on meetings, email and routine administrative tasks". For large multinational organisations operating here, this rises to up to 5,000 hours per month. The report says that 92% of organisations in Ireland now use or plan to use AI, but fewer than half (44%) have a formal AI policy.

The report shows a persistent AI readiness gap that is already translating into uneven business outcomes between large firms and SMEs. Large firms are more than twice as likely to deliver weekly time savings of two hours or more per employee (54% vs 25%), and SMEs are more than twice as likely to have no formal AI training in place (15% vs 6%). 

Prof Ashish Kumar Jha of Trinity College's ADAPT Centre said organisations with a formal AI policy are 10 times more likely to report major productivity gains, and SMEs that do invest in AI capability report higher rates of significant productivity gains than large firms. "Closing the maturity gap between large organisations and SMEs will be essential if Ireland is to translate widespread AI adoption into durable, economy-wide productivity gains.”

“The data clearly shows that Ireland is at an inflection point: AI is firmly embedded in day-to-day operations, and Ireland is among the leading AI-adopting economies globally,” added Prof Jha. “The competitive advantage will come from how quickly organisations move from early deployment to scaled, governed, and value-driven AI adoption."

The report found that seven in 10 business leaders report reduced workload through AI use, with one in three saying AI helps them switch off and 26% said it resulted in less evening and weekend work. The report also found 70% of women and 52% of men hesitate to use AI at work – an 18-point confidence gap mirrored in lower self-reported AI literacy among women.

Microsoft Ireland general manager Catherine Doyle said an opportunity exists to make sure the benefits are felt equally across organisations. "That means closing confidence gaps wherever they exist and supporting SMEs to scale from early adoption to full integration. That’s where the next wave of value will come from.

“The data reveals a growing divide. While large organisations race ahead, too many SMEs are still at the starting line, and the confidence gap among women in leadership tells us the skills challenge goes beyond technical training. Widespread adoption is what unlocks the biggest gains – and it's where the real opportunity begins. The next step is using AI not just to do today's work faster, but to build new products, enter new markets and create value we couldn't create before.”