Accenture has reportedly started tracking employee usage of its AI tools and will take this into account when determining the top promotions as the consulting firm seeks to increase adoption of the technology by its employees.
The company told senior executives and associate directors that promotion to leadership roles required “regular implementation” of artificial intelligence, according to internal emails seen by the Financial Times.
The company has also started collecting data on weekly logins to its AI tools by some senior staff, the FT reported.
Accenture previously said it had trained 550,000 of its 780,000 employees in generative AI, up from just 30 in 2022, and said it would roll out the training to all employees as part of its $1bn (£740m) annual learning spend.
Among the tools whose usage will reportedly be monitored is Accenture’s AI Refinery. CEO Julie Sweet previously said this “creates an opportunity for businesses to rethink processes and operations, discover new ways of working, and scale AI solutions across the enterprise to drive continuous change and create value.”
The company’s aggressive AI efforts highlight a broader industry trend of companies using machine learning tools to speed up certain tasks and free up other resources to focus elsewhere.
Accenture reported better-than-expected results in the December quarter, driven by demand for AI-powered services.
The latest move to link the use of AI tools to promotion potential comes just months after the New York-listed company began calling its employees “innovators” to position itself as a leader in artificial intelligence. The move was criticized by some as an example of corporate jargon.
The Reinventor label was born during a major reorganization across Accenture last June, which saw the Strategy, Consulting, Creative, Technology and Operations divisions merged into a single division called Reinvention Services.
Sweet told investors in September that the company would “retire” employees who don’t get the hang of using AI in the workplace.
In general, older and more senior employees at the largest professional services firms are seen as reluctant to incorporate the use of AI tools into their work, while younger and junior employees are seen as more receptive.
The Dublin-based group previously said it would open its doors to employees for whom “based on our experience, this is not a viable route for them to acquire the required skills”.
In December, Accenture announced a partnership with OpenAI, owner of ChatGPT, and its competitor Anthropic, owner of the Claude chatbot. The company aims to capitalize on the growing demand for AI services.
“Our strategy is to be our clients’ transformation partner of choice and the most customer-centric, AI-powered place to work,” an Accenture spokesperson said. “This requires us to implement the latest tools and technologies to most effectively serve our clients.”
