Accenture leans into AI with $3 billion investment

Accenture is investing $3 billion into AI in order to help clients leverage the developing technology, the consulting firm announced today. The investment will cover assets, tools, acquisitions, research and talent over the course of three years. 

One such tool is the AI Navigator for Enterprise, a platform that Accenture said uses generative AI to help clients better understand how AI can fit into their businesses. Accenture is already working with clients on generative AI-based projects, the company said in a press release, including helping a hotel group manage customer feedback and a judicial system sift through information across hundreds of thousands of documents.  

“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,” Julie Sweet, chair and CEO of Accenture, said in the press release. 

Accenture also pledged to double its AI staff to 80,000 through hiring, acquisitions and training employees who don’t yet have the expertise.

The corporation will also develop industry-specific AI models to accelerate AI solutions for different kinds of clients. Tools implemented by Meta and Salesforce show how such a model could be tailored for advertising purposes. 

Read more: Meta adds generative AI into its ad platform

David Droga, CEO of agency Accenture Song, seemed optimistic about the technology in a May interview with Ad Age. Generative AI is “not going to sort of marginalize just what we do—it’s going to get rid of the messy mediocre middle,” Droga said at the time. 

Accenture is the latest company with ad offerings to dive deep into AI, following recent moves from The Brandtech Group and WPP. The intensified AI race comes as industry leaders have pressed governments to enact policies regulating the burgeoning space.