The AI colleague is no longer a science fiction concept for Irish workers. A Censuswide survey of 1,000 employees in Ireland, commissioned by Landmark Technologies, finds that a fifth of office workers expect to have AI colleagues within three years. While 25% said they would feel nervous working alongside AI that handles tasks independently, 38% would be excited, believing AI co-workers would make them more efficient. For operational excellence leaders in Ireland, this is a strategic planning signal.

The survey is a business transformation diagnostic as much as a workforce preference report. Organisations that navigate the AI transition most successfully will treat the arrival of AI not as a technology deployment question but as a change management challenge, requiring deliberate investment in communication, training, and the redesign of roles to reflect new human-AI working arrangements.

The operational dimension is striking. Some 29% of office workers expect AI assistants to frequently make judgement-based decisions on their behalf within three years, such as prioritising emails or declining meetings. When AI begins making autonomous decisions within business processes, governance frameworks, accountability structures, and performance management systems must be redesigned to match. For Irish businesses investing in agentic AI today, this is a present challenge, not a future one.

Worker appetite is clearest when framed around tangible outcomes. The top expected benefits are better work-life balance, cited by 29%; more time for creative and strategic thinking at 27%; and more flexible hours to fit around family commitments, also at 27%. Ken Kelleher, Managing Director of Landmark Technologies, noted that AI is rapidly moving from being a productivity tool to becoming a digital colleague that supports employees in their day-to-day work. That shift from tool to colleague is the defining process improvement opportunity for Irish organisations.

Kelleher also identified the governance imperative: organisations must introduce AI responsibly, with governance and compliance in mind. That mandate is not a constraint on ambition; it is what makes adoption sustainable. Organisations that rush deployment without governance and training infrastructure will encounter the anxiety that 25% of Irish workers already feel, amplified at scale and compounded by operational disruption.

Three operational leadership priorities emerge from the Landmark Technologies findings. First, frame AI adoption as a workforce transition programme: readiness is high when framed around personal benefit. Second, build governance frameworks before AI begins making autonomous decisions in core processes. Third, invest in AI literacy and role-redesign programmes to translate worker excitement into sustained operational performance.

The Landmark Technologies survey confirms that Irish workers are ready to welcome AI into the workplace. Organisations that invest in the right training, governance, and change management frameworks will be best placed to realise the full operational excellence dividend that AI colleagues can deliver.

(The views expressed by the writer are his/her own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of BusinessRiver.)