A growing number of companies have incorporated artificial intelligence into their framework in recent years — often training employees to use new technology for productivity. Some have gone a step further to make the use of generative AI tools a mandatory part of their job descriptions. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet recently made waves after noting that AI use was now mandatory if employees at the consulting giant wanted a promotion.
“Today, AI at Accenture is how we do work. So if you want to get promoted, you’ve got to do the things that we do in order to operate at Accenture,” she explained on the Rapid Response” podcast earlier this week.
She added that the policy was not tantamount to coercion — comparing the shift to the introduction of computers in the workplace. Sweet opined that tracking the use of such tools by employees was simply part of her push to make Accenture ‘AI-first’.
“These are the new tools to operate a company. We didn’t go from zero to ‘you won’t get promoted’ in a month. It’s over a three-year period of getting used to the technology, making sure it’s user-friendly, making sure we have the right workbench for people to use, and then saying: Hey, this is Accenture and how we operate,” she added.
Have other companies done this?
AI fluency is rapidly becoming part of the job description for most tech companies. A report released by CISCO in January noted that employees recommended for promotion used AI 50% more often than those who were not recommended. Amazon has also linked AI usage to promotions for some verticals.