Firms must invest in real people to gain from AI, EY's Teigland says

Investing in People Essential for AI Success, Says EY's Teigland

The Importance of Human Investment in AI

By Divya Chowdhury and Maria Martinez

Shifting Job Roles with AI

DAVOS, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Companies will not get productivity gains from artificial intelligence unless they invest in real people and redesign how work is done, Julie Teigland, EY's global vice chair, told Reuters on Thursday.

Challenges in AI Implementation

"There is no ROI if you're not willing to change the job descriptions," Teigland said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, adding that companies need to adapt processes to capture AI's benefits.

Training for Productivity Gains

Teigland cited EY work indicating that intensive training can be linked to productivity improvements, saying that around 81 hours of training per employee could translate into roughly 14% weekly productivity gains, if paired with role redesign.

She said AI's labour impact will be "multi-generational," changing entry-level positions and routine white-collar tasks, with employees needing to shift from "doing the task to supervising the task," becoming "above the loop."

FROM HYPE TO SCALE

Business leaders in Davos are striking a more practical tone on AI than a year ago, Teigland said.

"I felt the conversations were definitely more real as AI moved from hype to scale," Teigland said.

Companies are learning AI is not plug-and-play, and ROI requires organisational redesign and training, not just deploying tools.

She said companies have broadly moved past an initial phase of deploying Copilot and familiarising staff with new tools, and are now grappling with how to move on from pilots and proofs of concept.

Getting stuck running too many pilots can become a "death trap," Teigland said.

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(Reporting by Divya Chowdhury and Maria Martinez; Editing by Andrew Heavens)