As artificial intelligence reshapes Ireland’s workplaces, Daire Lydon asks what the future holds for UCD graduates facing disappearing entry-level jobs and a shifting career ladder
As artificial intelligence transforms Ireland’s workplaces, new graduates are likely to find it increasingly challenging to gain traditional work experience, with entry-level roles changing, thereby requiring students across all disciplines to adapt in a rapidly changing job market. In the past the “entry-level job” has been a rite of passage, doing the basic, routine work to gain necessary experience. Now, AI tools are starting to take over routine tasks. In 2025, Irish students are discovering that these first rungs on the career ladder are shifting under pressure from artificial intelligence.
Earlier this summer, the Oireachtas was warned that junior lawyers and software engineers could be among the first to lose out to AI. Dr. Patricia Scanlon, Chair of Ireland’s AI Advisory Council, told TDs on the Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence, that work “previously occupied by humans” is already being carried out by algorithms, and she urged policymakers to prepare for disruption to roles rather than to wait and react after the fact.
AI is not just changing roles, it is already eating into the entry-level ladder work experience that students have always relied on, meaning it will become increasingly challenging to gain the relevant junior experience which are the foundation for working towards more senior roles.
The legal profession faces a big shift. Trainees once cut their teeth sifting through case law or reviewing documents; increasingly, AI can do this in seconds. Law firms will still need graduates, but fewer of them, and most likely with a greater emphasis on developing client relations skills and judgment rather than carrying out basic research or review work.
In finance and accountancy, AI is automating the basic work of invoice processing and basic analysis. A recent Morgan McKinley Employment Monitor noted a significant reduction in graduate hiring in Irish accounting and finance with some firms reportedly cutting intake by a third. Customer service and call centre roles, another traditional starting point for training in many organisations, are also shrinking as chatbots handle routine phone and email queries.
What this means for UCD students
For UCD students across all disciplines, the message is clear: the landscape of experience in first jobs is changing.
For students, this shift places a new premium on skills that machines cannot easily replicate. Communication, teamwork, creativity and critical thinking are becoming central to graduate employability. Employers may hire fewer graduates into routine roles, but those who can show initiative and problem solving skills alongside AI literacy will stand out in a saturated job market.
Commerce students may find fewer audit and analyst positions, but new opportunities in compliance, data analytics, and digital marketing are likely to emerge.
Computer science and engineering students may face stiffer competition for traditional coding roles, but Ireland is also seeing a surge in demand for AI specialists, data scientists, and specialist engineers in order to deal with a changing AI-influenced landscape. The often quoted "your job won’t be taken by AI but by someone who can effectively use it” comes to mind.
Law graduates can probably expect leaner trainee intakes in large firms, but those who can work confidently with legal tech AI tools will still be required and more emphasis may be placed in training on client relationships and matters of judgement.
Arts and humanities graduates may see fewer entry roles in publishing or content writing, but new hybrid positions are emerging: editing AI outputs, curating digital material and managing social media analytics are some examples.
Science students may find that routine lab analysis is being automated, but AI is also opening up new frontiers in biotech, climate research, and healthcare.
No discipline is untouched, but, on the positive side, none is shut out from the benefits of AI either and the nature of the first job is evolving, rather than vanishing. According to a Google-commissioned report, up to 150,000 Irish jobs could be displaced within a decade, but the same study estimated a potential €45 billion GDP boost, to include new jobs, if Ireland adapts to the new AI world successfully.
The Government is starting to prepare. Ireland’s National AI Strategy is being prepared at present with Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne heading up the Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence. This Committee is currently taking soundings and advice from experts in the field of AI at home and abroad. Whether we like it or not, AI is here to stay, and students will need to embrace it so as not to be left behind, with many believing it will shape our world even more profoundly than the creation of the internet.