Aritfical intelligence and workplace expert Peter Cosgrove of Futurewsie critiqued remote work productivity claims in a presentation at the Irish Hotels Federation Annual Conference in Killarney, pointing out unmeasurable benefits of in-person recognition, informal mentoring and collective learning essential for hospitality industry skills.
He discussed challenges of hybrid work models, citing company returns to office policies at Disney, Zoom and Amazon, and argued employees benefited from in-person presence to build influencing and soft skills.
Cosgrove concluded that soft transversal skills like creativity, innovation and human connection would endure over replaceable technical skills, while urging continued networking and learning amid AI advancements and irrational human behaviours.
Mr Cosgrove opened with a primate fairness experiment involving rocks, grapes and cucumbers to illustrate that fairness resonated universally, even in species 1pc different from human DNA.
He addressed perceptions of ageing, where most adults drew stereotypical images of elderly people while younger individuals viewed old age as only 15 years ahead, and noted demographic shifts with average EU age rising by 2050.
Peter Cosgrove shared “Nobody has ever told me that working from home is more fun. More convenient, yes, but almost never fun.”
“The good news is AI still can’t tell the difference between a labradoodle and a chicken donut. So we’ve got a little bit of time.”
IHF conference 2026
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