AI adoption is accelerating, but returns will lag unless the North West closes its capacity gaps first.

An April 2026 Productivity Institute paper argues AI could help Northern Ireland narrow its long-running productivity gap, but only if the region strengthens the fundamentals that determine whether new technology actually diffuses into everyday business practice. The authors frame AI as a general-purpose technology with wide applications, but warn that productivity gains are not automatic: they depend on how AI interacts with core drivers including skills, business capability, policy delivery, and investment in infrastructure and connectivity.

For North West firms, the direct exposure is twofold. First, workforce readiness: the report highlights a “low skills equilibrium” risk, where limited employer training and weak progression routes leave workers stuck in roles that are vulnerable to task automation rather than uplifted by it. It argues an AI skills strategy should prioritise individuals’ training and lifelong learning (rather than picking “winning” firms), because that is how SMEs get a practical capacity upgrade at scale. Second, investment readiness: the authors are explicit that Northern Ireland’s infrastructure gap already constrains investment, and that AI-related demands could worsen this unless the planning system and utilities infrastructure are treated as strategic enablers rather than bottlenecks.

What happens next is governance and clarity. The paper recommends an NI-wide AI strategy owned by the Executive Office, built around support for adoption by people and businesses, public sector service transformation, and forward-looking productivity advice potentially anchored by a Productivity & Growth Board. It also flags UK-EU regulatory divergence as a practical issue for NI market access, requiring transparent engagement on economic implications.

For the Chamber, this is a delivery agenda: lock in Magee expansion as the skills engine, press for City & Growth Deal execution that improves digital and utilities capacity, and demand practical guidance that de-risks AI adoption for SMEs.

Takeaway: AI is a competitiveness lever for the North West only if skills pipelines and infrastructure delivery are treated as the enabling investment, not a side issue.

You can read the full Harnessing AI to boost Northern Ireland’s productivity: Implications for people, business and government here.