Industry leaders must ensure sustained availability of entry-level jobs, Accenture Chair and CEO Julie Sweet said on Thursday, while emphasising that “humans should be in the lead” and not “in the loop” in a future led by artificial intelligence (AI).
She also said that engines of growth — small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector and C-sector industries — should have access to new technologies.
“We have to reinvent. But as we think about it, there’s the fundamental belief that ‘humans in the lead and not humans in the loop’ that will shape that future. We must not confuse how we deploy AI responsibly,” she said.
Citing Accenture’s example, she said while the IT bellwether plans to hire more people into entry-level jobs this year than last, the onboarding process will be different, with an eye on advanced AI.
“Companies must commit to creating sustained entry-level jobs making economic sense,” she said, adding that it was the only way to create future leaders. Companies must be intentional about changing rules and investing in training, she said.
“Tech, no matter how powerful, is simply a tool, and leaders decide how to use that tool, to commit to reinvent, to dedicate time to ensure people come along the journey, to ensure safe widespread adoption of AI,” she said.
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“The last decade has taught us a critical lesson: when companies and countries embrace new tech and use it to drive growth and productivity, they prosper,” she said.
Sweet said companies and countries must pound the table for global standards on safety and for industries. These include common standards for pharma industries across the world, which could impact the most vulnerable.
Drawing parallels with robotic process automation
Sweet said Accenture, the bellwether for the global IT services industry, has seen its workforce growth to 7,50,000 and revenues to $70 billion in 2026, from 2,50,00 and $29 billion in 2013, respectively.
This was in reference to a dire 2013 Oxford University study that predicted that 50% of American jobs were automatable.
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“It forecast that robotic process automation (RPA) may damage IT services. In fact we used RPA to automate thousands of jobs, embraced the new technology creating many more jobs, and clients adopted the technology to grow,” said Sweet.
The IT services industry has thrived over the last decade. This includes many of India’s most successful companies, she said.
Against the backdrop of advanced AI’s growth, Sweet sought to play down the fears around growth and productivity, citing Accenture’s latest quarterly survey across 20 countries. Sweet said 78% of C-suites agree that AI’s value is in growth.
She outlined three perspectives, namely, using AI as engine for growth as a path for global prosperity, reinventing how companies, countries and individuals work, work together and learn, and ensuring that humans remain in the lead, not in the loop, when it comes to AI deployment, that will determine the collective future while ensuring that AI’s immense potential is captured for the benefit of all.
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New frontiers of growth
The Accenture CEO said she believed that “AI should make the impossible possible”, adding that if CEOs are unable to point out new products and services, as well as new levels of performance in a few years, they are not utilising the complete potential of AI.
Pointing to the retail sector, Sweet said LLMs are the new malls, offering new ways to engage customers and engage in commerce that did not exist in 2022.
“In pharma, we see a path to bring new products much faster than the standard nine years,” she said.
“We are just beginning to understand how AI will bring new drugs and new products across the industry,” she added.
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While advanced AI is much more powerful than the tech advancements of the last decade and its impact more profound, it doesn’t change the critical lesson that AI must be used for growth and productivity, said Sweet.
“It changes the sense of actions, time frame, need for global collaboration, public-private partnership and the urgency we must do to drive AI growth,” she added.
Commit to providing access for SMEs
Sweet pointed out the importance of access to AI technology and talent by emphasising the importance of the SMEs sector, which makes up 50% of global GDP and accounts for nearly 70% jobs in the global South.
“If we are to use AI as an engine of growth, we must ensure that the engine for growth, SMEs and C-sector industries, have access to these technologies,” she said.
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The Accenture CEO also pointed out the opportunity for new roles in providing services to SMEs offered by advanced AI adoption.
Companies across the world should reinvent when it comes to operations, processes, and work, said the Accenture chief.
She added that the failure of AI is the failure to reinvent.
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