Business

Roll-out of AI will not lead to mass lay-offs, former Amazon chief says

Companies will spend next decade figuring out what AI means for them and their workforces, IDA Ireland chief argues

Mike Beary, former Amazon Web Services country manager for Ireland: 'there is a need to make sure we are being thoughtful about what the long-term implications are'. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill / The Irish Times

Colin Gleeson
Tue Feb 13 2024 - 17:16

The roll-out of artificial intelligence (AI) across the economy will not lead to mass lay-offs of human workers, Mike Beary, the former Irish head of Amazon Web Services, has told a conference in Dublin.

Mr Beary recently stepped down from his role as country manager with the tech giant here after more than a decade with the company. Before joining Amazon, he worked as human resources director for the Walt Disney Company.

Tech companies have axed more than 34,000 jobs already this year as they rejig their workforces to invest in new areas such as generative AI to power their next phase of growth, says the website Layoffs.fyi, which tracks the attrition of the industry.

A total of 141 tech companies have laid off staff this year. The losses are smaller than at the start of 2023 when big tech groups including Meta, Amazon and Microsoft axed roles following an exuberant period of over-investment during the pandemic.

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Speaking at an event organised by the Irish Universities Association on why universities matter for foreign direct investment, Mr Beary said that while AI may have “burst into the public consciousness” in the past 12 months, it has been in use for “years and years”.

“It is everything from how you price an airline ticket to how you decide what options show up on your social media feed,” he said. “It is how a lot of customer service interactions are now managed. It’s been there already. We just didn’t know what to call it.

“But there is a need to make sure we are being thoughtful about what the long-term implications are. In the end, I don’t think we are going to see people out on the street, being laid off because of AI. I think people’s jobs will evolve.

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“Hopefully we’ll get to a stage where some of the things that can be automated will be done so, and the higher judgment – the collaboration, the assessment of risk – all those things become what you need a really well-rounded workforce for.”

Speaking at the same event, IDA Ireland chief executive Michael Lohan said companies are still figuring out what AI and new technology means for their businesses and workforces.

“To be honest, most enterprises cannot just take more technology and layer it in,” he said. “They have to understand what it means for their business.

“Companies and enterprise are looking at AI and saying, ‘what does this mean for my business? How can I bring it in ethically and fairly and within regulatory requirements?’ Then, ‘what does that mean for my activities, and indeed the workforce?’

“So how do we evolve the workforce and make sure we transition people? It’s going to take probably a decade for that to come through. This is another new technology. The pace of technology has increased so therefore our pace of change has to increase.

“Some of our activities that we do every day can be revolutionised by AI. It’ll free us up to do other high-value decision-making activities. That’s where our enterprise base has gone.”

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson is an Irish Times reporter

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