PwC to invest a further $11.5m in AI
The big four company is investing millions into the development and incorporation of AI capabilities with the establishment and launch of the AI Centre of Excellence.
PwC is “bolstering” its AI capabilities by investing $11.5 million over 12 months in its new AI Centre of Excellence.
The initiative is being implemented to help Australian businesses navigate the complexity of the technology and provide competition on a global scale.
PwC Australia CEO Kevin Burrowes said the launch of the centre highlights the company’s commitment to AI transformation and trust.
“This major investment will build on our momentum and bring together the full suite of AI skills,” he said.
“It will ensure we’re providing the transformation, technology and trust capabilities that businesses require to respond to AI change as a set of integrated, end-to-end offerings, to help our clients solve key business challenges.”
PwC said the multi-million investment will create up to 30 new jobs and further AI adoption and strategy for PwC Australia’s staff and clients.
The new jobs and developments will add to PwC’s 320 data, advanced analytics, and AI specialists.
The roles created by the initiative will include AI business analysis, software engineering, machine learning, data science, transformation, upskilling, change management, AI model validation and risk management.
The PwC CEO survey highlighted that fewer than one-quarter of Australian CEOs have begun to adopt the technology.
This is despite 60 per cent of Australian CEOs believing generative AI will drastically impact the value their company can deliver.
PwC Australia artificial intelligence leader Tom Pagram said incorporating AI transformation is an important step more businesses need to consider.
“Australia has a tremendous opportunity to apply AI to lift its productivity growth rate but our CEO survey shows a sizeable gap between AI adoption and AI ambitions across most businesses,” he said.
“We are deeply focused on understanding AI adoption challenges and we have a suite of strategy, technology, workforce, legal, data and risk offerings to help Australian businesses overcome those challenges.”
The launch of the AI Centre of Excellence follows PwC US’s $1 billion investment to expand and scale the capabilities of AI in April 2023.
This investment with Microsoft was followed by the launch of the PwC AI assistant and ChatPwC which, “supports staff to accelerate their work on research, data analysis and drafting.”
The AI centre also follows PwC’s announcement that it is the first and largest company to sign a deal with OpenAI and ChatGPT Enterprise globally.
Pagram said PwC Australia views itself as “client zero” and is testing new solutions in the business to reflect the best learnings to clients.
“We’re walking the walk and will continue to lean into using AI to run our firm, embedding AI into the core of our operating model.”
Australia is a key centre for AI talent and delivery within the PwC global network, Pagram said.
“Australia has strong AI talents and there are many areas where Australian businesses are well-positioned to lead globally, including AI in agriculture, mining and resources, AI for sustainability and research-industry partnerships in areas such as Responsible AI,” he said.
