Business leaders plan to continue AI spend, even if bubble bursts

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What’s the definition of insanity? Something about doing something over and over again and expecting different results?

AI spending may be on its way to meeting that criteria. Roughly half (52%) of business leaders will continue investing in the tech even if the AI bubble bursts, according to a recent Accenture report, and only 10% think there’s a “significant” AI bubble.

“AI investment and conviction holds,” Karalee Close, Accenture’s global lead of talent, told HR Brew. “[There’s] a real shift in the realization that it’s not a bubble, and to get the real value, you really need to dig deeper into the people and workforce topics.”

It’s not when, it’s how. AI is changing the workforce, Close said, and leaders are reworking roles and responsibilities to incorporate relevant skills. Most (78%) business leaders expect workers’ roles to change in the next year.

“People think about the technology first, and that’s where the investment has been,” Close said. “But now, it’s really about, ‘Okay, in order to get the value…we now need to think differently about how we scale that with people.”

Many companies have cited AI investment as a reason for layoffs. But some may have moved “a little fast on that and pulled the trigger too quickly,” Close said. Others, she added, seem to be doing the opposite: Half (52%) of business leaders plan to hire more entry-level workers to meet the AI demand, while most (73%) plan to create AI-focused, entry-level roles over the next two years.

“Not only do you need new talent to have a healthy [talent] pyramid, but you actually need to create skills that are needed,” she said. “Some of those skills actually are more easily created with new people.”