Low-pay workers and an AI data privacy warning

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Hospitality and food services account for a large proportion of Ireland's low-pay workers, according to a new report. Photograph: iStock
Hospitality and food services account for a large proportion of Ireland's low-pay workers, according to a new report. Photograph: iStock

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Low pay is particularly prevalent in sectors like hospitality, food services and retail, Emmet Malone reports, where many workers are often unable to secure enough hours of work each week to earn a decent standard of living. That’s according to new research conducted by academics from think tank NERI and the UCD School of Business and other institutions.

Proposals aimed at simplifying digital regulations in the European Union would weaken existing privacy regulations, opening the floodgates for artificial intelligence (AI) companies to access European users’ data virtually unrestricted, privacy campaigners have claimed. Ciara O’Brien reports.

Internet provider Siro is targeting firms based in Ireland’s 600 business parks for full-fibre broadband upgrades. It comes after data published by ComReg revealed that a significant number of companies in Ireland are operating in what Siro called “fibre broadband deserts”.

Chicken has suddenly become big business in Ireland, with an influx of US brands: Popeyes, Dave’s Hot Chicken, Wingstop and Chick-fil-A. Reporting from the front lines of the war for dominance in the Republic’s fast food chicken industry, Stephen Conneely delves into what’s driving the market with some of its biggest players.

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To a large extent, Pilita Clark says she can’t wait for robotaxis to take over. However, their arrival in London in recent weeks is a reminder of the bleak outlook for the city’s nearly 15,000 black cab drivers and their 105,000 private-hire counterparts.

Meanwhile, Martin Wolf predicts that the sheer complexity of regulating the tech industry’s products in this age of AI omnipresence and recursive self-improvement will prove either too daunting or too good an excuse not even to try. So, we will go ahead in our usual helter-skelter (and all too human) fashion, simply hoping for the best.

Finally, in this week’s opinion column, property economist Dr John McCartney makes the case that despite conflicting signals from commercial property agents, demand for office space in Dublin is currently weak, not strong, fundamentally because office-based employment is contracting and remote working is continuing to expand.

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