Kilkenny's Tech Thursday explores how AI is reshaping business beyond tools

As artificial intelligence moves rapidly from experimentation into everyday business use, many organisations are beginning to ask a deeper question - not which AI tools to adopt, but how AI is changing markets, company structures, and the way organisations operate.

That question will be explored at Tech Thursday, which will be held next Thursday in Harry’s Bar at Langton’s, from 7 to 8.30pm.

The event, which is called Beyond the Tools: Seeing Around Corners with AI, brings together speakers working with AI from startup, enterprise, and regulatory perspectives, offering a strategic view that goes beyond demonstrations or technical tutorials.

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The evening opens with a short talk from Tech Thursday founder John Cleere, focusing on category creation and why AI is accelerating the emergence of entirely new markets. The talk will explore how category shifts shape strategy, positioning, and organisational design.

This will be followed by a fireside conversation with Kevin Bluett, an engineering leader and founder currently building an AI-native startup. The discussion will look at what it really means to build a company with AI at its core, and how this changes roles, teams, and how work gets done from the outset.

The evening concludes with a panel discussion titled “What’s Changing Inside Organisations”, featuring perspectives from design, legal, and engineering. Panel speakers include Stephen Cummins, Senior UX Designer at Unum Ireland, who works on AI-first internal tools within a global organisation, Maurice Murphy, Head of Legal at TransferMate Global Payments, bringing a legal and governance perspective, and Niamh Stockil, Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft, who works on large-scale systems used by teams and products worldwide and is also part of the expert team on the RTÉ television series Big Life Fix.

Together, the panel will explore how AI is actually landing inside organisations today, where opportunities and tensions are emerging, and what leaders and teams need to pay attention to as AI adoption accelerates.

Tech Thursday has become a regular fixture in Kilkenny’s business and technology calendar, attracting founders, designers, engineers and senior professionals who want to explore emerging trends in a practical and open setting. The event is free to attend, but registration is required at bit.ly/aikilkenny