Ernst & Young (EY), one of the Big Four global professional services providers, has announced the creation of a new platform enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) for its clients.
The London-based company announced in a blog post on September 13 that it had invested $1.4 billion in AI technologies for its new EY.ai platform, which seeks to assist organizations in adopting AI. The platform is based on EY AI EYQ, EY’s large language model (LLM).
According to the statement, a partnership with Microsoft gave EY early access to Azure OpenAI capabilities, including ChatGPT-3 and ChatGPT-4. EY has also invested alongside Dell in Dell Generative AI Solutions, which seeks to facilitate the adoption of generative AI with LLMs.
The billions in AI investments will also go to embedding the technology into existing EY services, such as EY Fabric, which 60,000 clients already use with millions of unique users, and the acquisition of additional technology supporting cloud and automation.
Carmine Di Sibio, global chairman and chief executive officer of EY, remarked that the time is “now” for artificial intelligence.
“The adoption of AI is more than a technology challenge… It’s about unlocking new economic value responsibly to realize the vast potential of this technological evolution.”
EY has anticipated the AI integration surge for quite some time, and in 2018, the company launched an “extensive” AI, data, and analytics learning badge curriculum and credential program.
According to their announcement, 100,000 credentials have been awarded to EY employees, and 4,200 technology-focused team members have been assembled. Di Sibio averred:
“Every business is considering how it will be integrated into operations and its impact on the future.”
EY has integrated emerging technologies into its internal and external operations with initiative. In October 2012, it assisted a Norwegian government agency establish a metaverse office.
However, EY is only one of many global corporations that have taken the initiative to incorporate or promote AI services. On September 13, Goldman Sachs rejected the notion that the current AI hype is merely a bubble waiting to collapse and instead predicted an impending “revolution.”
