In-house AI: Deloitte employees turn to bots for low-skill tasks

Deloitte is taking the expression “time is money” to heart with its new AI innovation.

What happened: Consulting firm Deloitte has rolled out a generative AI chatbot to employees across Europe and the Middle East. The chatbot is an in-house tool designed to cut down workers’ time spent on low-skill tasks, per the Financial Times.

• The chatbot, named “PairD,” will be used by 75,000 employees to answer emails, write code, create presentations, and conduct research, according to the company.
• PairD was developed by Deloitte’s internal AI institute, which opted for an in-house option, as the firm’s rivals turn to established chatbots, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

You might also like:
• RCMP is hiring for these civilian jobs and some don't require a college degree
• Number of Indian students applying to study in Canada drops by 41%
• Here's where Canada ranks among the most expensive countries to retire in

Why it matters: Companies across consulting, law, and finance — where employees’ time is, in and of itself, the primary service they sell — are increasingly turning to AI to free up their workers’ capacity for more high-level tasks to boost productivity and cut costs.

• Deloitte rival PwC uses AI chatbots in its legal and tax divisions to summarize large documents, while law firm Allen & Overy has its own AI contract negotiation tool.

Yes, but: PairD, like most AI tools, can sometimes churn out less-than-reliable information, an issue left to employees who have to verify the accuracy of the chatbot’s final work.

What’s next: Only 20% of Canadian businesses with more than 100 employees have already adopted AI, but that number is bound to grow in 2024 as businesses try to keep pace with companies in the U.S. integrating the technology at a much higher clip.

Get smarter about what matters. Sign up for The Peak, a free five-minute daily email on Canadian business, tech, and finance that you’ll actually enjoy reading.