PwC's US boss promotes AI‑first strategy, reshaping client services and expectations for staff worldwide
PwC's US chief executive Paul Griggs is warning employees that they could be replaced if they do not embrace artificial intelligence, as the Big Four consultancy shifts to an AI‑first operating model that will automate swathes of audit and consulting work, according to reports.
Griggs, who was appointed as PwC's US CEO in 2024, has overseen a restructuring that will see parts of the tax and consulting business turned into AI‑powered tools that clients can access "without a PwC person in the loop," potentially via paid annual subscriptions, Business Chief reported.
The direct‑to‑client offerings are built around PwC One, an AI platform that already includes anomaly detection for sustainability data and is set to expand into mergers and acquisitions, due diligence and tax rules.
Griggs has delivered a blunt message to senior staff, warning that partners who do not become "paranoid about being AI‑first" will be replaced by those who do, Business Chief reported.
He added that any employee who believes they can opt out of AI is "not going to be here that long," as the firm accelerates automation of tasks traditionally performed by junior professionals, according to the report.
The pivot challenges the Big Four's long‑standing leverage model, which relies on large intakes of graduates and associates to handle administrative and analytical work.
PwC argues that AI will instead deliver parts of those services directly to clients, while human teams focus on higher‑value advice.
"Our view is straightforward: AI raises the floor. Humans raise the ceiling," Griggs said in a company post last month.
"Technology can accelerate routine analysis and connect information in powerful ways. But judgment — understanding context, interpreting signals, navigating ambiguity and building trusted relationships — remains fundamentally human."
AI's impact on PwC Australia
While PwC insists it will remain a "net acquirer of talent" globally, the firm's Australian arm is already showing how an AI‑enabled, leaner operation can change workforce dynamics, productivity and profit, according to the Australian Financial Review.
PwC Australia lifted average partner income to $814,000 in 2025, up 6% on the previous year, even as profit slipped two per cent to $608 million, driven in part by AI‑enabled productivity gains and a smaller workforce.
PwC Australia chief executive Kevin Burrowes told the AFR that AI‑driven productivity began boosting profits in late 2025 and accelerated through early 2026.
"I'm super delighted with the momentum the firm has got," he said as quoted by the news outlet. "We've carried [this] through into January, February, March [2026] ... But I think the thing I'm most proud of for the firm is our productivity has improved in our business between 10 and 20%."
Burrowes said the firm's future operating model would involve "fewer people doing the same amount or fewer people doing more," as partners and staff used "the [AI] tools that we've got available to them to really make sure that we're doing more with less," the AFR reported.
PwC's investment in AI has also required substantial spending on technology and training as the firm retrains its remaining workforce to use new tools.
"The other thing I would just say is … AI isn't cheap," Burrowes said. "We're putting all of our partners and managing directors through this Kellogg [AI] course. It’s an eight-week course. It's not cheap. And with that reskilling comes the cost.”
Other costs include giving every employee access to at least one AI tool, developing[and developing] AI agents that can complete tasks with minimal supervision.
The workforce changes follow a sharp downsizing after PwC Australia's tax leaks scandal, which led to the fire sale of its public sector consulting arm and waves of departures.
The firm now has 575 partners, down 35% from a peak of almost 900 in 2023, and just over 6,100 staff, down almost 40% from nearly 10,000 over the same period, according to the firm's latest report.
