Accenture on Tuesday announced a $3-billion investment over three years in its data and artificial intelligence (AI) practice.

This will help clients across all industries advance rapidly and responsibly and use AI to achieve higher growth, efficiency and resilience.

The company, which consults and services various clients on generative AI projects, said it will have 80,000 people working on AI as it hires, buys other companies and trains more employees.

Accenture did not say when it would hit that number but added that the investment was aimed at helping companies across 19 industries.

India is set to be a crucial part of the plan. The company did not specify details about the investment in India. The country is one of the largest in terms of its delivery centre.

Accenture has over 300,000 employees in India.

The investment plan builds on Accenture’s decade-old leadership in AI. The company’s AI expertise spans more than 1,450 patents and pending patent applications worldwide and hundreds of client solutions at scale, ranging from marketing to retail and security to manufacturing.

“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,” said Julie Sweet, chair and chief executive officer (CEO), Accenture.

“Companies that build a strong foundation for 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,” she added.

Part of the $3-billion investment will go into hiring 80,000 people through acquisition and training.

In March this year, the company announced the setting up of a company-wide team, the Generative AI and Large Language Model (LLM Centre of Excellence).

It brought together 1,600 professionals dedicated to generative AI, thus leveraging the experience of more than 40,000 AI and data professionals across Accenture.

Six years ago, Accenture forged its responsible AI framework, which is now part of how Accenture delivers its work for clients.

It is currently working with many clients on generative AI projects, such as helping a hotel group manage customer queries or a judicial system synthesising information across thousands of complex documents.

 

Accenture will 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.

“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,” said Paul Daugherty, group chief executive, Accenture Technology.