Accenture finds 52% of executives would keep investing in AI even if a bubble burst
Leadership investment in artificial intelligence remains strong as the technology delivers a range of benefits to the workforce, according to a new report.
Findings from Accenture's Pulse of Change report found that 82% of C-suite leaders are planning to increase AI investment.
In fact, 52% said they would continue to invest in AI even if a bubble burst, with only 10% of them saying they believe such a bubble exists.
The strong commitment to AI tools comes as it delivers a range of benefits to the workforce, particularly on productivity and job satisfaction.
Seven in 10 C-suite leaders reported that the impact of agentic AI has been "greater than expected" on employee productivity.
This is supported by employees in the report, with 81% saying they feel AI tools have increased their overall productivity at work.
Another 71% of employees said their overall job satisfaction has increased since AI tools were introduced.
Will AI cause job cuts?
Leadership's growing investment on AI tools is also unlikely to cause job cuts, despite recent headlines indicating this outcome.
Accenture's findings show that 73% of leaders are expecting new entry-level roles that are focused on AI to emerge over the next two years.
Another 52% of leaders are also expecting to hire more entry-level talent due to the technology, according to the report.
The findings challenge the expectations that AI adoption will lead to a widespread loss of work for many employees, particularly for entry-level roles.
In the US, data by Challenger, Gray, and Christmas revealed that AI has been cited in 101,743 job cut announcements so far this year, accounting for approximately 23% of all cuts nationwide.
Currently, 41% of leaders said their organisation is "very prepared" to respond to talent disruption, while 34% of employees feel the same, according to Accenture.
Strong AI investment despite low ROI
Meanwhile, Accenture also pointed out that leadership's strong AI investment comes despite only 23% of firms reporting widespread and sustained business value across the organisation from AI.
This is down from 32% earlier this year, according to the report. And yet, 55% of firms are confident that their agentic AI initiatives will deliver board-reportable business outcomes within the next year.
The report stressed that the "real challenge" with AI adoption is reinvention.
"Moving from using AI to running on AI requires reinvention," it said. "The winners won't be the organisations that deploy AI the fastest. Rather, they'll be the ones that combine technology, work redesign, and workforce transformation to realise enterprise-wide value."
