Accenture to invest $3 bn in data, AI; to double its AI jobs to 80,000

Global IT services firm Accenture on Tuesday announced a $3 billion investment over three years in its Data & AI practice to help clients across all industries rapidly and responsibly advance and use AI to achieve greater growth, efficiency, and resilience. With this announcement, Accenture is making a range of investments to help companies develop the new strategies, operating models, business cases and digital core architecture they will need to capitalise on AI innovation.

"There is unprecedented interest in all areas of AI, and the substantial investment we are making in our Data & AI practice will help our clients move from interest to action to value, and in a responsible way with clear business cases," Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO, Accenture, said in a statement.

The IT firm will invest in assets, industry solutions, ventures, acquisitions, talent and ecosystem partnerships, which will deepen and develop new skills and capabilities across diagnostic, predictive and generative AI.

Moreover, the company said that the Data & AI practice will double its AI talent to 80,000 professionals through a mix of hiring, acquisitions, and training.

Accenture's new AI Navigator for Enterprise, a generative AI-based platform will help clients define business cases, make decisions, navigate AI journeys, choose architectures and understand algorithms and models to drive value responsibly.

Building on Accenture`s own efforts, the platform will include assets designed to accelerate responsible AI practices and compliance programmes.

"Over the next decade, AI will be a mega-trend, transforming industries, companies, and the way we live and work, as generative AI transforms 40 per cent of all working hours," Paul Daugherty, group chief executive, Accenture Technology, said in a statement.

The company will also create accelerators for data and AI readiness across 19 distinct industries as well as pre-built industry and functional models that take advantage of new generative AI capabilities.