Two months after announcing massive staff cuts, consulting firm Accenture pledges to spend $3 billion on developing AI expertise and credentials, through hiring, acquisitions and more. Credit: YinYang / Getty Images IT consulting and services giant Accenture announced today that it would spend $3 billion on assets, startups, talent and partnerships aimed at staking out a leading position in the fields of generative and predictive AI. Beyond the raw investment of money, Accenture said that its data and AI practice will double in size, from 40,000 to 80,000, “through a mix of hiring, acquisitions and training.” The company will also create startup accelerators for AI readiness, focusing on 19 different industries, and will look to generate pre-built models suitable for use in those industries. The move comes two months after the company said it would lay off 19,000 staffers, or 2.5% of its workforce, to reduce costs amid uncertain macroeconomic conditions. However, about half those cuts, Accenture said, would be from back-office staff involved in nonbillable work, and the company did specify at the time that “we continue to hire, especially to support our strategic growth priorities.” Accenture also announced a new AI Navigator for Enterprise product, which it describes as a system to help users make business decisions about AI, create business cases for its use and understand the type of modeling and algorithms required to accomplish particular tasks. (The product is, itself, powered by generative AI.) “Companies that build a strong foundation of AI by adopting and scaling it now, where the technology is mature and delivers clear value, will be better positioned to reinvent, compete and achieve new levels of performance,” said Julie Sweet, Accenture’s chair and CEO. “Our clients have complex environments, and at a time when the technology is changing rapidly, our deep understanding of ecosystem solutions allows us to help them navigate quickly and cost effectively to make smart decisions.” Accenture was also eager to talk up the company’s history in AI, noting that AI is already used in platforms like myWizard process automation, SynOps for business operations intelligence, and myNav for cloud architecture design. The company was also working on a responsible AI framework six years ago, which, it said, outlines “rigorous” guidelines for the use of AI, and said that it’s already working on generative AI projects with clients as diverse as hotel groups and judicial systems. Accenture isn’t the first consultancy firm to announce major investments into AI. PWC stated in April that they would spend $1 billion on a partnership with Microsoft and OpenAI to adapt the latter’s generative AI technology for use in tax and auditing services, according to the Wall Street Journal. And Bain and Company announced a similar AI deal with OpenAI in February, with Coca-Cola as the first client. Related content news AI is driving productivity and wage increases: Report In major labor markets, including the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Singapore, jobs requiring AI expertise are associated with a considerable wage premium. By Prasanth Aby Thomas May 21, 2024 3 mins Salaries IT Jobs Artificial Intelligence news IBM showcases Gen AI-driven Concert to monitor and manage enterprise applications Underpinned by the watsonx platform, IBM Concert will provide enterprises insights across applications to help reduce risk and compliance processes. By Anirban Ghoshal May 21, 2024 3 mins Generative AI IBM feature IT leaders look beyond LLMs for gen AI needs Not all enterprise use cases are best suited for large language models. New multimodal generative AI models and smaller models show promise for niche needs. By Paula Rooney May 21, 2024 9 mins Generative AI IT Strategy opinion Reducing CIO-CISO tension requires recognizing the signs Given competing pressures and priorities, CIOs and CISOs often find themselves at odds. Knowing where tensions flair and how your partner operates is essential to maintaining a productive partnership. By David Gee May 21, 2024 6 mins CIO CSO and CISO IT Leadership PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe