Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a key skill in today’s workplace. At Accenture, it’s now essential to move up the career ladder. CEO Julie Sweet recently said employees need to show they can use AI tools to be considered for promotions.
Sweet shared this on the Rapid Response podcast, explaining that AI is no longer optional in how the company works.
According to Sweet, AI has become deeply integrated into how Accenture operates. She emphasized that employees who want to move up in the company must learn to use these tools as part of their everyday work.
“If you want to get promoted, you have to do what we do to run Accenture,” she said, adding that AI technologies are now key to how the company works.
Sweet also made clear this requirement didn’t come overnight. Accenture spent around three years slowly rolling out AI tools, making them easier to use, and helping employees get comfortable before making it a formal rule.
Sweet compared this move toward AI to the time when computers first became common at work.
She explained that, just as companies once required employees to learn to use computers, AI is now the next essential technology for getting work done.
“No one would have called requiring someone to use a computer coercion,” she said. “It’s just how companies work. Today, AI at Accenture is how we get things done.”
The company has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence as part of its long-term strategy. Accenture has committed $3 billion over three years to expand its AI capabilities and integrate the technology across its global operations.
As part of this effort, the company aims to grow its AI workforce to about 80,000 professionals.
With over 770,000 employees worldwide, this push for AI skills marks a big change in how the company prepares its staff for the future.
This AI shift follows a major restructuring focused on digital transformation. In 2025, Accenture laid off thousands as it reorganized its workforce around new technologies.
At the time, Accenture said it would focus on reskilling employees for AI-related roles while allowing those who could not adapt to transition out of the company.
Accenture is not the only technology company reshaping its workforce around artificial intelligence.
Big tech companies like Microsoft and Meta have also changed their hiring and workforce strategies. They’re investing a lot in AI talent while cutting roles that don’t fit their new business models.
As AI keeps changing industries around the world, companies are seeing AI skills as a basic professional requirement, just like computer skills became decades ago.
