PwC launches GenAI Business Centre, enabled by Microsoft, as PwC survey finds AI and GenAI adoption in Ireland is slow
PwC Ireland is delighted to announce the expansion of its strategic AI collaboration with Microsoft into Ireland involving the launch of the PwC GenAI Business Centre, enabled by Microsoft technology.
Through the PwC Ireland GenerativeAI (GenAI) Business Centre PwC is turning its AI experience and knowledge into business outcomes for its clients. The new Centre will help boost GenAI adoption, driving the necessary investment returns in a safe and secure way. This comes at a time of huge opportunity for businesses but also at a time when technology needs to be applied with great responsibility.
This follows 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. PwC earlier this year also invested, through its industry leading relationship with Microsoft, over €1bn globally to expand and scale artificial intelligence (AI) and drive human-led, tech-powered transformation.
PwC Ireland has also invested significantly over the last number of years in the digital upskilling of all of their people. This ongoing investment is seeing this upskilling extended to cover AI and GenAI skills for all staff.
PwC GenAI Business Leaders survey finds large majority positive about potential impact from GenAI adoption for economy and their businesses but adoption is slow
PwC Ireland recently published the results of its GenAI Business Leaders Survey. The survey aims to obtain a snapshot of how AI and GenAI are impacting Irish businesses and where the priorities lie. Key findings in the survey include:
Less than one in ten (7%) respondents admitted that they have rolled out AI on a large scale in their organisations. This compares to 26% in a previous PwC survey carried out amongst US business executives.
A quarter do not plan to use GenAI in the year ahead
Nearly a quarter (24%) of Irish business leaders admitted that they have no plans to use GenAI, such as OpenAI’s GPT models, in the year ahead. Where they are planning to use GenAI there are a wide range of expected applications such as supporting financial, sales and marketing planning, enhancing supply chains & operations, developing new products and helping forecast market conditions.
Very few have AI governance structures in place
The EU AI Act is expected to be passed into law in the coming months and will drive the importance of good AI governance. However, just 6% of Irish business leaders confirmed that they have an AI governance structure in place.
AI is a business wide initiative and there should be a leader who is responsible to set the strategy. However, the survey highlights that a large majority (70%) of Irish organisations have not yet started the implementation of putting a head of AI in place.
Ability to assess return on investment poor
Over half (55%) of Irish respondents are not confident in their organisation’s ability to assess the return on investment on current AI initiatives.
Positive impact on economy
A large majority (74%) of respondents are of the view that GenAI will have an overall positive impact on Ireland’s economy in five years time. 82% said that GenAI will either increase or will have no net impact on jobs.
Over three-quarters (76%) of Irish executives believe that GenAI will have a significant impact on their businesses in the next five years. However, seven out of ten (70%) do not have a plan to use GenAI to solve labour shortages or increase automation in the workplace.
To secure the opportunities from AI and GenAI businesses need a clear strategy to ensure return on investment in a safe and secure way. Going forward there will need to be a better understanding of the AI and GenAI capabilities, better governance, more focus on measuring and achieving strong return on investment and trustworthy algorithms with the right data to train them.