The perception of artificial intelligence among medium-sized Irish businesses has shifted positively over the first six months of 2025, Grant Thornton has found.
The professional services firm's latest international business report (IBR) shows that the proportion of Irish executives who think AI is "overrated" has fallen from 45% to 23%, signalling a move from hype to hands-on adoption.
“Over the past six months we’ve heard that Irish mid-size businesses are shifting from cautious experimentation to confident deployment of AI. Executives are no longer debating whether the technology is ‘over-hyped’," said Shane O'Neill, technology and digital consulting partner at Grant Thornton.
"They’re writing policies, training staff and embedding tools into day-to-day operations. That practical focus is driving productivity gains, particularly in data analysis, customer support and internal knowledge-sharing."
More than half (53%) of firms now required to follow a company AI usage policy when using ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, up from 37% at the end of last year.
Enthusiasm has been tempered by a persistent concern over data security, and six in 10 executives worry about employees entering sensitive information into generative AI platforms.
There has also been a sharp improvement in companies' ability to spot practical applications for AI, with only a fifth (22%) of mid-sized firms citing “difficulty determining productive uses” as a challenge, down from 48% previously.
Privacy has surged to become the leading barrier to the adoption of AI tools.
Some 58% of Irish executives noted privacy as the key challenge their organisation faces in adopting AI, up from 35%.
O'Neill said that optimism alone won't close the trust gap that has developed among businesses, even as they become more confident in AI's potential.
"Until organisations can guarantee that sensitive data fed into AI systems remains secure and compliant, adoption will continue to bump against serious privacy concerns," he continued.
"We believe the winners here will be those firms that treat governance and transparency as strategically important: investing in building clear policies and communicating openly with employees and customers about how information is used.”
(Pic: Getty Images)
