1 - Getting Started ~5 mins
Today you investigate how artificial intelligence is already reshaping work in fields people your age actually enter.
Headlines swing between two extremes. One says AI will wipe out whole careers. The other says nothing much will change. Neither is useful when you are choosing a pathway. The useful question is smaller and more practical: in the field I care about, which tasks is AI already touching, and which human skills get more valuable because of that?
You will stake a position, then investigate one real use of AI in your chosen career field and write up what it does to skill value.
2 - Key Terms ~5 mins
Three terms you will need for today's investigation. Read them once, then keep them in mind when you place yourself on the line and when you write up your field.
| Term | What it means for you | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial intelligence: systems that handle tasks that used to need human judgement, language or pattern-spotting | When you research your field, look for concrete tools and tasks, not vague claims that "AI is everywhere" | Speech-to-text used in GP clinics to draft visit notes for the doctor to edit (check HSE digital-health or professional-body pages for current practice) |
| AI-augmented skills: human skills that matter more when you work with AI well | These are the skills worth training for: prompting carefully, checking output, owning the final decision | A junior accountant who lets software draft a reconciliation, then hunts for the error the model missed |
| Task change: day-to-day work inside a role shifts even when the job title stays the same | Your half-page should name tasks that grow, shrink or appear, not only whether jobs "survive" | Warehouse teams using computer-vision checks for damaged stock, with fewer pure visual-scan tasks and more exception-handling when the system flags a problem |
Task change across three kinds of work
Before you stake a position, hold this quick snapshot. Same idea in each column: the job title often stays; the mix of tasks moves.
| White-collar | Creative | Technical |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts software drafts a bank reconciliation; the junior still owns the final sign-off and error hunt | A designer uses generative tools for first mock-ups, then spends more time on client direction and quality control | Logistics systems forecast demand and reshape pick lists; workers handle exceptions the model cannot judge |
3 - Where Do You Stand? ~10 mins
Place your marker on each statement to show where you actually stand, and remember that nothing here is scored. Once you have heard both sides, move your marker again if an argument lands, because changing your mind is the point.
After your first placement, your teacher will reveal a few extra questions on screen to think about before you decide whether to move. Keep the three-column snapshot in mind as you do: whole jobs rarely vanish overnight, but the tasks inside jobs move first.
Interactive activity
4 - Investigate AI in Your Field ~30 mins
Open the file called AI in Career Field in the folder where you keep your portfolio work for this strand, the one named Strand 1.2. If you have not made that folder yet, make it now and name it Strand 1.2, then start the file. Write a half-page that covers all four of these, in order:
- Your field. Name the career field you are investigating (the one from your shortlist, or the closest honest choice if you are still deciding).
- One specific AI use. Name a real tool, process or practice already used in that field. Be concrete: what task does it do, and who still checks the result? Use a source you can name (a careers site, a professional body page, a news report, a course handbook, or someone who works in the field).
- Skills that become more valuable. At least two, with one line each on why AI makes them matter more (these are often AI-augmented skills: judgement, verification, client trust, problem-framing).
- Skills that become less valuable, or change shape. At least one, with one honest line on what shrinks or gets automated first. Avoid panic language; stick to task change.
Finish with one closing line: what this means for the next training choice you might make (a module, a short course, a placement focus, or a skill you would deliberately practise).
Where to look (start here, do not guess from a blank search)
- CareersPortal job profiles and skills sections for your field.
- A professional body page (for example Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland student or careers material, Engineers Ireland, Law Society of Ireland education pages, or the body linked to your field).
- A recent Irish news or feature piece on AI at work in that sector.
- Ask someone who knows the field: a placement contact, a family member, or a teacher who can name one real practice.
Weak version to avoid: "AI is changing hospitality and I will need to adapt."
Strong version (hospitality example): "Some hotels use AI chat tools to draft first replies to booking questions; a receptionist still checks tone, room availability and special requests. Guest judgement and verification matter more; pure first-draft reply writing matters less. Next step: practise handling a complaint conversation on placement, not only the booking script."
Strong work names the tool or practice, the task, the skill shift, and a training step you could take this term.
5 - Sharpen Your Closing Line ~5 mins
Talk these through with the person beside you, then improve the closing training line already in your AI in Career Field note before the bell. You are finishing the same Strand 1.2 piece, not starting a second file.
- Pick one skill you named as becoming more valuable. Is your closing line the smallest next training step that would actually build it: a module, a short course, deliberate practice on placement, or something else?
- Where does "AI-augmented" stop being a slogan and start being a real requirement in your field? What would a supervisor expect you to check yourself rather than trust a tool to finish? If that is missing, add half a sentence now.
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