India doing great job of embedding AI in education, says Accenture CEO

India is doing a great job of embedding AI into the educational system, starting in primary school, and Governments across the world will need to do so, Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said on Thursday. Speaking at the AI Impact Summit, she highlighted India’s importance in an AI-enabled future.

Sweet said Accenture employs over 3.5 lakh people in India and has one of the largest AI workforces globally, integrated with its hubs in the US, Europe, the Middle East and Japan. “...Education is no longer a destination. We have to have lifelong learning. India’s doing a great job of embedding AI into the educational system, starting in primary school, and Governments across the world will need to do so,” Sweet said.

At the same time, as countries are thinking differently, individuals have to think differently, and recognise that formal education is no longer the destination, she added.  Sweet emphasised that countries and companies that embrace new technologies prosper. “When companies and countries embrace new technologies and then use them to drive growth and productivity, they prosper,” she said.

Referring to the adoption of robotic process automation and digital technologies over the past decade, she said the IT services industry created more jobs even as automation advanced. Sweet further stressed that companies must commit to sustaining entry-level jobs despite AI-driven changes.  “Entry-level jobs make economic sense. They’re the only way to create future leaders. And they bring needed, truly AI-needed talent to each of our organisations,” Sweet said.

She said Accenture will hire more people into entry-level roles this year than last year.  In her address at the summit, being attended by global leaders, Sweet emphasised the need to ensure access to technology and talent for small and medium enterprises, which account for about 50 per cent of global GDP. Small and medium enterprises account for a significant share of employment in the Global South.

“If we are to use AI as an engine for growth, we need to make sure that the engine for growth, these types, these size enterprises, have access,” Sweet said, adding private and public partnerships will be critical to making sure such firms get the access.

The biggest fundamental change that must be made is that companies and countries need to pound the table for global standards, she added. These standards should apply to safety, but also to the industries where AI can make the greatest impact, she noted. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet.