AI is already making a positive difference in citizens’ everyday lives, often in ways people barely notice. Working away in the background, it helps us navigate journeys, improves customer service through faster responses, makes banking safer through fraud detection and provides personalised recommendations for shopping and entertainment. In the world of medicine, AI is also enhancing healthcare by supporting earlier disease detection, assisting in surgical procedures and speeding up medical research, helping to improve outcomes and quality of life.
As AI becomes ubiquitous, however, are there dangers in allowing it to control so many aspects of our lives?
Martin Duffy, director and head of AI and emerging technologies at PwC Ireland, agrees that AI brings many benefits to people’s lives and that fears about the dangers of the malign power of AI are understandable.
“I don’t think fears about AI are overstated, but they do need to be kept in perspective. AI brings real risks around misinformation, bias, privacy and security – we have all seen the very convincing AI-generated content on social media – which is why strong governance and responsible use are essential.
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“However, AI brings significant benefits which are already being delivered in healthcare, education, public services, everyday life and productivity. The challenge is not to fear AI but to ensure it is developed with the appropriate guardrails that build trust in the technology.”
To get the full benefits from AI in a responsible way you need people with the relevant skills, he says, noting that PwC’s Ireland 2025 Workforce Hopes and Fears survey found that only 10 per cent of Irish respondents use AI daily for work. AI literacy and continuous upskilling is becoming increasingly important across the workforce.
“It is very important to make AI an enabler for everyone, not just a technology for specialists, so that the benefits are shared across society rather than concentrated among a few,” he notes.
Jamie Lawless, chief executive of LendWell, an AI solutions specialist servicing mortgage providers, says much of the AI making the biggest difference to daily life “never announces itself”.
“A map reroutes around traffic. Siri or Alexa answers a question or sets a timer. A chatbot resolves a query without a 20-minute hold. A streaming service works out what’s worth watching next. A bank’s fraud system catches a stolen card before its owner does. A robot vacuum or lawnmower gets on with the job while the house is empty. None of it demands attention. That’s exactly why it works, and why the loudest fears about AI rarely have much to do with it.”
Turning to his own business, Lawless says the measure of good AI in his sector isn’t how clever it looks, it’s whether an adviser gets their afternoon back to spend with a client instead of a spreadsheet.
“Finance Solutions, Ireland’s largest mortgage broker, is a useful test of where that changes, since a mortgage is about as high stakes and paperwork heavy as life gets. The AI system behind that shift was built by LendWell, whose platform handles the document collection, verification and case-tracking work that used to sit with advisers.
“The system was never built to do a consultant’s job, only the part of it that was pure admin: chasing documents, checking dates on a bank statement, rekeying details between systems. What’s left is the part advisers are trained and qualified to do; give proper advice supporting people getting homes.”
Conor McGowan, managing director of Finance Solutions, says: “The real benefit of introducing AI to our service is giving our team more time to do the job well. People making the biggest financial commitment of their life want to speak to a human being and we want to make sure our brokers have more time to do that.
“Finance Solutions is aiming to process €2 billion in mortgage approvals by 2027 and expand our headcount. We see AI as instrumental in achieving this; AI doesn’t drive a wedge between people trying to buy a home and the services they rely on. It gives the people already closing that gap, whether in a bank, a solicitor’s office or a mortgage broker’s office, more room to do the job properly.”
“People might assume technology and personal service pull in opposite directions, but in our business, they don’t. For our customers, the benefit is clear. Our mortgage advisers can spend less time on paperwork and more time supporting people buying a home,” he concludes.
