What would you do with 10,000 extra public servants?

For decades, Ireland has built its economic identity on being a knowledge economy: highly skilled, highly educated, and a magnet for global investment. Agentic AI is about to test whether that advantage still holds. Most conversations about AI start with cost – how do we do more with less? Audrey O'Mahony, Accenture's Head of Talent Reinvention for UKIA, argues that's the wrong starting point entirely. Her question instead: what would you do with 10,000 extra employees? Thinking capacity instead of cost-cutting changes what preparing for AI actually looks like. In Part 1 of this conversation, Audrey talks about what's at stake for Ireland if that knowledge-economy advantage slips, and why government and the public sector have a uniquely important role to play. As adopters of AI, but also as enablers of it across the wider economy. 🔹 **The risk** to Ireland's knowledge-economy advantage if AI readiness doesn't keep pace 🔹 **The mindset shift** — why "what would you do with 10,000 extra employees?" is a better question than "how do we cut costs?" 🔹 **The public sector's dual role** — adopting AI in its own services, and enabling AI readiness across the wider economy 🔹 **The foundation** — why agentic AI is only as good as the data sitting underneath it 🔹 **The real driver of adoption** — trust, not training modules Part 2 coming soon. 🎧 Transform Gov is part of the Ireland eGovernment Awards, brought to you in partnership with Accenture. 📅 The Ireland eGovernment Awards and Leadership Summit take place 24 September at O'Reilly Hall, UCD. Find out more at digitalgovawards.com #TransformGov #AI #FutureOfWork #Accenture #PublicSector * * * Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.