New Delhi (India), February 19 (ANI): Accenture Chairman and CEO Julie Sweet on Thursday highlighted the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and recognized the importance of broad global partnerships to capture AI’s incredible potential and address its risks.
Speaking during the keynote session at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 held at the Bharat Mandapam, Sweet highlighted India’s central role in the AI-driven future and praised the company’s employees in India.
Also read | Indian security officials warn of resurgence of militancy after Muhammad Yunus’ provocative ‘Seven Sisters’ remarks.
“At Accenture, we are extremely proud to have over 350,000 reinventors here in India and growing. We also operate one of the world’s largest AI talent pools integrated across our global hubs,” she said.
Sweet also emphasized equitable access and encouraged public-private partnerships to ensure small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) benefit from AI adoption. He pointed out that in the Global South, small and medium-sized enterprises account for about half of the world’s GDP and 70% of employment.
Also Read |Sri Lanka National Cricket Team vs Zimbabwe National Cricket Team Scorecard, T20 World Cup 2026.
“We must be committed to providing access to technology and talent to small and medium-sized businesses. If we are going to use AI as an engine of growth, we need to make sure that that engine of growth has teeth. Companies of these sizes have access to 50 percent of the world’s GDP, small and medium-sized enterprises, and they account for 70 percent of employment in the Global South,” she said.
“This will create a lot of business opportunities. So many industries will be serving small and medium-sized businesses, but that alone will not be enough. Public-private partnerships are important to ensure access,” she added.
Sweet outlined three guiding perspectives for the AI era. It’s about using AI to drive growth, embracing unprecedented reinvention by businesses and countries, and putting humans in charge, not in the loop.
Sweet drew parallels with earlier technological innovations, pointing to a 2013 Oxford University study that warned that 47 percent of U.S. jobs are at risk of automation.
“The rise of robotic process automation (RPA) had similar concerns, but its introduction ultimately created new roles and expanded industries. We have used RPA to automate thousands of jobs and create even more jobs,” she said.
Sweet cited Accenture’s growth, saying the company has expanded from about 275,000 employees and $29 billion in revenue in 2013 to 750,000 employees and more than $70 billion in revenue.
Sweet emphasized the business value of AI, noting that in Accenture’s latest executive survey across 20 countries, 78% of executives identified growth as the biggest benefit of AI.
“AI must make the impossible possible, enabling new products, services, and performance levels. Sweet highlighted examples across sectors, such as large-scale language models that reshape consumer engagement and AI that accelerates pharmaceutical innovation with the potential to shorten drug development timelines,” she said.
Sweet called the AI challenge “unprecedented” and urged companies to reinvent their operations, invest in reskilling employees and continue to hire entry-level employees. “AI is fundamentally changing the way entry-level jobs work,” she said.
She also called on the government to prioritize lifelong learning and incorporate AI education early. Mr. Sweet praised India’s efforts to incorporate AI into primary education and advocated for global standards for AI safety and implementation to enable scalability across borders.
“Technology, no matter how powerful, is just a tool,” Sweet said, concluding that leadership defined by excellence, confidence and humility will determine how AI shapes the future. (Ani)
(The above article is verified and written by ANI staff. ANI is South Asia’s leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus across India, South Asia and the world. ANI brings you the latest news on politics and current affairs, sports, health, fitness, entertainment and news from India and around the world. The views expressed in the post above do not reflect the views of latestLY.)
