- Expleo’s AI Pulse shows that at 65 out of 100, business leaders’ confidence in AI remained unchanged for April
- 28% believe empathy is the most important skill for managers in the age of AI
- 19% cite the ability to integrate AI into workflows as being most important
- Ireland’s business leaders remain the wariest in Europe when it comes to AI’s impact on their own organisation
Dublin, 19th May 2026 – Expleo, the global technology and consulting service provider, today announces the results of its AI Pulse sentiment tracker for Ireland. The survey shows that business leaders in Ireland are far more likely than those in the UK, Germany and France to value empathy as a fundamental skill for managers in the age of AI. Meanwhile, the sentiment score for April remains unchanged from March, at 65 out of 100 for confidence in AI.
Despite ongoing concerns around the impact AI will have on the global jobs market, April’s AI pulse shows that business leaders in Ireland believe that the most important skill for managers of the future, in the context of increased AI adoption, will be human-centred, empathetic coaching and people leadership. This is significantly higher than the importance business leaders in the UK (21%), France (15%) and Germany (18%) give it.
The most-valued skill, on average, across the markets surveyed is the ability to integrate AI into workflows and drive change (25%), while business leaders in Ireland are less convinced, at 19%.
The drive to keep humans in the picture may explain why 45% of business leaders are worried about how AI is transforming their organisation, up from 43% the previous month. This concern is felt to a lesser extent in other markets: 34% in France and Germany and 41% in the UK.
Commenting on this month’s results, Phil Codd, Managing Director – Ireland, said: “The high proportion of business leaders valuing human-centred leadership actually shows a great level of AI maturity. Business leaders here understand that it is people who transform organisations, not AI.
“The organisations that will get the most from AI are not the ones racing to implement it fastest, but the ones investing in the human side. Ireland’s focus on empathy as a core management skill isn’t a reluctance to embrace AI, it’s an advanced understanding of what successful adoption actually requires.”
