Sarah Harte: If we can’t make AI work for us, I’ll meet you at the barricades

Meta's layoffs of Irish staff, Geoffrey Hinton's fears about AI, and Pope Leo's encyclical have all raised fears about AI this week

In his first encyclical, Pope Leo XIV rightly sounds the alarm on AI power becoming concentrated in ‘the hands of the few’. Picture: Andrew Medichini/AP

Even if you’re a fan of putting your fingers in your ears singing “la, la, la, I can’t hear you” — as many people are now, due to the current news cycle — you couldn’t avoid artificial intelligence (AI) this week.

The Meta layoffs sent shivers down the spine. The story also dominated the international news as the company’s axe fell globally. Driving across the country for work, the lead item on our news was the early-morning emails sent to Irish workers, telling them their roles were potentially affected. They landed at 4am. On a human level, you imagine their shock.