The Youth Lab

Ireland is so hot right now

In 2024, the world has been getting really excited about Ireland; from a cultural and creative point of view, we’re on fire. At THINKHOUSE, we spoke about this ‘cultural renaissance’ recently and ‘Ireland’s So Hot Right Now’ became the expression of the day at last month’s ‘AI Connect’ event that I spoke at, hosted by Google, IAPI and Enterprise Ireland. And the positive-energy about Ireland is not just home-grown, here in Ireland, it’s all around the world with articles, listings and features in publications such as New York Times and Forbes Magazine and Vanity Fair in the last few weeks.

I was delighted to be amongst a gathering of tech and marketing companies flying the Irish flag at SXSW in Austin Texas; to participate in the brilliant line-up of events and conversations curated by Enterprise Ireland (as part of their new focus on promoting the Irish creative services sector), in partnership with, Culture Ireland, Tourism Ireland, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and which was coordinated across Government departments by Global Ireland/ Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland as part of the St. Patrick’s Day programme.

It was important for Ireland to have a presence there - with other European countries such as England and France hosting similar events to showcase their country’s creativity in the fields of science, innovation, technology, culture and the arts. And IRELAND HOUSE certainly played a blinder in showcasing the spirit, ingenuity and creativity of Ireland through panel discussions, demonstrations and events; with some of Ireland’s most exciting talent, alongside intentional innovators; working here and abroad; from the creators of U2’s The Sphere, Rich Peppiatt, Director of Kneecap to Christina Guckert (Reddit); Donald Knight (Greenhouse Software); Meisha-Ann Martin (Workhuman); Andrew Patton (Manna Drone); Steven Davenport (Screen Ireland); Emma Foley (Pale Rebel Productions) amongst many other speakers covering a range of topics including Irish Identity, Filmmaking, Immersive storytelling, AI & AR, corporate DEI amongst other things.

AI CHANGING EVERYTHING AS WE KNOW IT

AI was integrated into almost every conversation and panel I attended.

Firstly - Ryan Patel hosted a keynote with Dr. Lisa Su, a trailblazer in the technology world, Dr. Lisa T. Su, Ph.D., is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and was inducted into the prestigious Women in Technology Hall of Fame in 2019.

Whilst the talk was mostly directed at engineers and technologists in the audience; as a marketer, I got excited at the prospect of investing in my first AI PC. AI PCs are personal computers with system-on-a-chip capabilities built to run GenAI tasks on the device, at speed. Not widely available yet, this will further transform our capabilities as marketers and will ‘kill rendering time for artists.”’ In talking about AI she made some powerful statements about creativity and filmmaking including:

“The future of film-making is between passive + active entertainment. The future of media is about passive + active + realtime entertainment.” She claimed that AI will “Make creators much more productive.”

She wrapped up with by saying:

“AI is the most important technology in the last 20 years. The answer is not to go slower, We must go faster and we must do so with a watchful eye. Companies that learn how to leverage AI are going to win over companies that don’t.”

Because AI is one or our strategic priorities at THINKHOUSE, I attended as many of the AI talks that I could. Of the many speakers I witnessed throughout my 5 days in Austin, when it came to discussions about AI there was an air of ‘move fast and break things’ and it wasn’t until I attended a smaller SXSW event called “Can AI Help us become more human?” that I finally witnessed an expert who had a deep knowledge on the more ethical questions around the fast deployment of AI. When asked (by me) how she compares the US with Europe and Asia on AI legislation, Amanda Lawson, AI policy Manager with the Responsible AI institute, said

“The US has a lot of catching up to do. Europe is more progressed”

Others felt the same and a music professional I spoke to at the conference said:

“Despite being able to sell the positives about the mass adoption of AI and machine learning, nobody from any field seemed to have an answer when it came to the moral dilemma of how these systems are being trained, and how artists or copyright holders should be compensated.”

At a panel discussion about live entertainment, Live Nation’s Anubhav Mehrotra made a brilliant statement that made me further appreciate my love for festivals and festival life. He said:

“We’re entering into a period with AI where we have an abundance of opportunities and tech; which actually makes real life more scarce, more valuable.”

Click here to read the full article in Adworld