Generative AI offers companies and their employees more effective ways of working

PwC has extended its collaboration with Microsoft with the launch of its new PwC generative artificial intelligence (AI) business centre. Enabled by Microsoft technology, the PwC generative AI Business Centre will help organisations to achieve returns on their investments in a safe and secure way.

“This strategic collaboration brings PwC’s and Microsoft’s strengths together to help our clients transform by connecting them with appropriate technology solutions and supporting them in the adoption of generative AI.” says Aisling Curtis, market leader, strategic alliances, with PwC Ireland.

“We are turning our AI and GenAI experience and knowledge into better business for our clients,” says Martin Duffy, head of generative AI with PwC Ireland. “The new centre will help boost generative AI adoption, driving the necessary investment returns safely and securely.”

The new Centre, based at PwC headquarters at Spencer Dock in Dublin 1, builds on PwC’s global strategic collaboration with Microsoft creating scalable offerings using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Copilot for Microsoft 365 to help support clients in reimagining their organisations.

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“Gen AI has the potential to transform industries by automating tasks, revolutionising problem-solving and creating new business opportunities,” says Curtis. “Companies that harness its power gain a competitive edge and are better equipped to navigate the challenges of the modern business landscape. However, Gen AI adoption in Ireland is slow by comparison with other countries. The new centre will offer opportunities for us to work with clients to help them on their adoption journeys in a very practical way.”

Slow adoption in Ireland compared to international standards

That slow uptake of generative AI in Ireland was revealed in the results of the PwC Ireland Gen AI Business Leaders Survey, highlighting how AI and generative AI are impacting Irish businesses and where the priorities lie.

Less than one in ten, seven per cent, of respondents said they have rolled out AI on a large scale in their organisations. This compares to 26 per cent in a previous PwC survey carried out among US business executives. Much more encouragingly, 61 per cent of Irish business leaders said that they are either considering adopting AI in the future or are using it to a limited extent.

However, nearly a quarter, 24 per cent, of the respondents said they have no plans to use generative AI in the year ahead. Where they are planning to use it, 21 per cent of those surveyed said that there are a wide range of expected applications such as supporting financial, sales and marketing planning; 15 per cent saw it enhancing supply chains and operations; 12 per cent saw opportunities to developing new products and 10 per cent believed it could help to forecast market conditions.

Duffy does not believe that the fact that Ireland may not be leading globally is a cause for alarm. “It is quite normal in each new wave of technology for larger countries to take the lead and the US is usually ahead of others. Ireland is in a great place to take the learning, ” he says.

“The survey results show that there is increased awareness of the transformative potential of Gen AI. We are, after all, looking at a unique and transformative technology that reduces cost, improves quality, and saves time, all simultaneously.”

Demystifying AI and Gen AI

More worryingly, more than half of the respondents, 55 per cent, are not confident in their organisation’s ability to assess the return on investment on current AI initiatives. “It is very concerning that organisations may not be able to assess the return on investment in AI and Gen AI,” says Curtis. “Given that Gen AI will have a very significant impact on their businesses, measuring and realising that impact is very important.”

At least part of the problem lies in the difficulties that organisations are experiencing in finding worthwhile business issues for such a new technology to solve.

“The vast majority of respondents, 76 per cent, to our survey said Gen AI would have a significant impact on their businesses in the next five years,” Duffy says. “The question they are struggling with is where exactly the benefits will be. That’s not a technology question, it’s a business question. It’s about understanding where the sweet spots are for the technology to be applied. It comes down to understanding businesses and organisations.”

The PwC generative AI business centre will help organisations identify the business areas which deliver real value and assist them in measuring the return on investment in the technology. “It’s all about finding the right areas in the business to which Gen AI can be applied.” Curtis says. “This has to be led by the business. Our new centre will provide an opportunity for our clients to benefit from our deep functional and technical expertise along with Microsoft’s technology. It will demystify the technology and enable clients to identify the specific opportunities it presents for their business.”

A living lab

The centre will also act as a kind of living lab where different generative AI applications can be trialled and demonstrated. Already, demonstrations have been developed for new finance processes, documenting and writing programming code and analysing transcripts of customer service calls and performance evaluation of the agent.

“Our clients will be able to see the technology in ways that they might never have imagined,” says Duffy. “They will be able to come into the centre to think and talk about the possibilities. Recognising the possibilities for their organisation will help them unlock the value of the technology.”

Doing that safely and securely is critically important. However, just six per cent of PwC Ireland’s Gen AI Business Leaders Survey participants said they have an AI governance structure in place and 72 per cent have not even started to implement such a plan.

Governance is critical

“In the past, ethics and governance were optional when it came to a lot of new technologies,” Duffy says. “The EU AI Act will become law in the next few months and responsible use of AI will not be optional, it will be a legal requirement. The first thing for organisations to look at is governance. It has multiple layers including ethics, risk and regulation, internal audit, oversight committees, external audit, regulators and more. There is a flow of trust throughout the organisation, and you need a good governance structure based on a responsible AI framework to preserve it.”

PwC has deep expertise in the area. “We have been working on it for the past several years,” says Curtis. “PwC is a world leader in the responsible use of AI and how it affects organisations and their customers, employees, investors and reputation as well as society. Our clients have the benefit of that experience.”

While governance is a complex area, PwC does have what Duffy describes as a ready reckoner for organisations to use to test if generative AI outputs are trustworthy or not. “You should check it against the five c’s,” he says. “Is the output of the Gen AI system complete, is it current, is it based on clean data, is the result correct and is it checkable. This is a good way of checking outputs from Gen AI.”

Curtis emphasises the fact that everything needs to be based around the needs of the business and the people working in it. “There is a need for new skills and capabilities,” she explains. “PwC has gone through the process of developing new digital, AI and Gen AI skills over the past number of years. We understand the challenges facing our clients and can support them.”

Change projects, not IT projects

Putting organisations in control of their own destiny is key, Duffy concludes. “We are not looking at technology projects, but at change projects. Gen AI will change the way we work and live like we’ve never seen before. It’s a bit like the way the PC revolution changed the world. Organisations need to decide whether they are going to control and manage the change or allow the change take control. At PwC, we give organisations the chance to control and shape the change while getting a return on their Gen AI investment, safely and securely.”

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