Accenture employees may now need to prove they use artificial intelligence to move up the ranks.
The consulting giant has reportedly begun measuring staff engagement with internal AI tools as part of promotion decisions.
An internal email seen by the Financial Times told associate directors and senior managers they must demonstrate “regular adoption” of AI to secure leadership roles.
In the lead-up to its next round of top-level promotions, some senior employees’ weekly log-ins to two in-house AI platforms are being tracked, with the company saying use of its tools would be a “visible input” in talent discussions.
One of the monitored tools will reportedly be Accenture’s AI Refinery – a tool built in collaboration with chipmaker Nvidia to help companies scale their use of generative AI and convert “raw AI technology” into “useful business solutions”.
Workers seeking a promotion will also need to increase their use of SynOps, the “human-machine operating engine” the company launched in 2019 to automate repetitive tasks, drive growth and “scale operations quickly”.
Accenture employs approximately 780,000 staff across its global operations and has previously claimed to have more than 550,000 workers trained in generative AI.
Revenue climbs as staff cut
Despite Wall Street forecasting $26.19 billion (US$18.52 billion) revenue for Accenture's first quarter in December, the company beat expectations by drawing in some $26.50 billion (US$18.74 billion).
Following the surprise revenue growth, chief executive Julie Sweet said the company had strengthened its “leadership in advanced AI”, while the company announced new partnerships with chatbot makers OpenAI and Anthropic.
While Accenture has arguably been best known for consulting, cloud services and business process outsourcing in the 2010s, the company has aggressively pushed AI and machine learning solutions in recent years, particularly for the purpose of optimising workplace operations.
“Our strategy is to be the reinvention partner of choice for our clients and to be the most client-focused, AI-enabled, great place to work in the world,” Accenture wrote in its first quarter results.
After slashing some 11,000 in just three months, the consulting giant last year told its workforce to pick up AI or prepare to lose their job.
Accenture has also pushed for its employees to be rebranded as ‘reinventors’ – a label decided after the company announced in June it would reorganise its strategy, consulting, creative, technology and operations arms into a single, AI-focused ‘reinvention services’ unit.
Results could be patchy
Karin Verspoor, dean of the School of Computing Technologies at RMIT, said AI use in itself should not be viewed as “evidence that the tools are being used effectively, or having a material impact on people’s job performance”.
“There are many examples of AI leading people down a rabbit hole, or creating more work when they attempt to co-create something with AI and find it isn’t quite giving them what they want,” said Verspoor.
She added that while Accenture was likely trying to “drive innovation within the organisation”, it would be far more beneficial to “measure the impact, rather than simple use” of the technology.
“While it seems that the organisation is trying to encourage adoption of technology, that adoption should be purposeful,” she said.
“Use of AI just for its own sake doesn’t add value.”
