L’intelligence artificielle est unsujet qui concerne les travailleurs sur tous les niveaux. Plusieurs personnesont discuté déjà des problèmes philosophiques et les éthiques d’intelligenceartificielle. Accenture est un organisme plus préoccupé par les profitspotentiels dans le monde d’automatisation et les affaires des entreprises.Accenture est une entreprise intéressée avec l’intelligence artificielle pourle succès de leurs clients, mais ils n’ont pas dit beaucoup sur sujet destravailleurs vulnérables. History:Accenture is a Fortune Global 500 company¹ whichoffers business insights via their 5 subsections focusing on consulting,strategy, digital, technology, and operations. Their partnerships with manycompanies on the fortune 500 list have allowed them to grow into an extremelysuccessful transnational corporation.
Despite having five separatespecializations listed on their website, Accenture’s services often include aholistic approach which recognizes the presence of new and emerging technologiesin the workplace and how companies canbenefit from the implementation of the world’s most cutting-edge technologicaladvancements. Accenture first began as a consulting branch of Arthur Andersenin the mid 1900s, and has since cut ties with the firm as an independentorganization.² The name “Accenture” came from a rebranding effort after cuttingties with Andersen which combined the words accent and future. The name wassubmitted for consideration by an employee named Kim Petersen in order toexemplify the company’s intense devotion to addressing the changing landscapeof the business world in the face of new technological advancements.³ Thecompany is governed by a board made up of 12 people, and has been a publiclytraded company on the New York Stock Exchange since 2001,? giving thefor-profit organization a responsibility to fulfill for its investors.
Inaddition to showing great success and profitability in their consultingbusiness, Accenture has also taken great strides to demonstrate inclusion ofdiverse people and transparency in their business practices. The informationthey put out to the public denotes a high importance placed upon acceptance ofdiversity in the workplace, and supporting a culture of tolerance of peoplefrom all walks of life regardless of the varying legal and political culturesin the many countries that Accenture operates within.? In keeping with theirgoal of offering future-focused services, Accenture has kept a close eye on thetechnological developments which could change the face of business and theworkplace through artificial intelligence, and the corporation has even gone sofar as to appoint a new managing director of artificial intelligence this yearfor their operations within Canada.? The new developments in artificialintelligence have been responded to with an increased attention to the techindustry’s progress towards cognitive machines. Background Information:Artificial intelligence is a term used to describemachines and technology which have been developed to perform tasks typicallyrequiring human intelligence. While today’s discussions of artificialintelligence often mention job loss or the advancements made in the creation ofhuman-like androids, the term applies to all forms of technology which reduce theneed for cognitive intervention by human agents via intelligent coding.Automated teller machines (ATMs) and smart traffic lights are two examples ofeveryday AI that often go unnoticed as they perform what seem to be trivialtasks.
“Thesuccess of early AI went to its practitioners’ heads and they believed thatthey would soon develop machines that would emulate human intelligence. Theyconvinced many of the funding agencies and the military to provide researchgrants, as they believed that real artificial intelligence would soon beachieved.” A1 The dissatisfaction ofinvestors and the general public with the actual output of AI research anddevelopment, triggered critiques of the field of study as a whole, what wouldbe referred to as an AI winter. This event is defined by “a recurring season inwhich research funding is withheld due to disillusionment over unfulfilledpromises?.” The AI winter had a stagnating effect on the developments of theindustry as the small developments made over long periods of time did not matchthe boastful promises made by professionals. Over the years AI has continued todevelop and be implemented in various workplaces, however some of the increasehas threatened current workers. Some of the most vulnerable to job loss fromautomation are working class labour workers who, even facing altered workplacepositions rather than lost jobs, face income reductions due to the new layoutof the workplace.
Policies:Accenture works internationally as a for profitorganization. While their various branches worldwide perform many tasksseparately and with varying practices based on the laws of their respectivehost nations, they all have a responsibility to shareholders and must thereforebe primarily invested in creating profits. Accenture’s chief compliance officerensures that they are able to operate worldwide and advises the highest levelon how to maintain offices around the world running at the highest ethicallevel, however the main oversight in policy decisions comes from their board ofdirectors. Unlike small-time groups and organizations who may also have taken astance on the use of artificial intelligence, Accenture must heed itsoperations to the decisions of its 12-person board. The CEO of theorganization, Pierre Nanterme, also occupies a seat on the board of directorsand is arguably the most central individual in deciding the overall strategy ofthe organization. As a business, the board operates with the interests ofshareholders in mind, focusing on private markets and emerging technologies todecide the forward movement that the organization as a whole will take.
Concerning artificial intelligence, Accenture has taken a strong supportiverole in supporting new developments. The company has an optimistic outlook forthe future of cognitive machinery, and supports further developments in AI asthey could provide even greater advancements in how business is run. Company Strategy:Accenture aims to entice large corporations intocollaborating with them by advertising their forward-thinking model of businessconsultation.
The media they release, be it from their website or newsreleases, is not intended for the average individual viewer, but ratherprofessionals with a background in business. While the name accenture does notappear in common conversations and advertisements, their track record speaksfor itself. Their work with major clients has landed them on the global Fortune500 list and has helped them to generate a larger network in which to markettheir consultation services?.While their strategy seems to do very little inconvincing the general public to agree with their cause of furtheringdevelopments in AI, it does indirectly affect the public view of AI bydemonstrating the effectiveness of cognitive machines via the businesses theywork with. While not directly attempting to influence the public opinion ofcognitive machines, the majority of Accenture’s work to support advancements inAI come from implementing intelligent machines in the world and allowing theirpresence to be normalized to the public. Examples:As mentioned in the strategy of Accenture, theirtarget audience is not the average layman. For this reason the majority oftheir media releases come in the forms of blog posts and of news articles writtenby Accenture staff members.
Very little of Accenture’s work is of interest tothe general public, meaning that they do not have a large media presence beyondtheir own publishings. In terms of artificial intelligence, the Accenturewebsite lists a number of articles concerning the challenges and opportunitiesinvolved in new advances of artificial intelligence. Even their articleconcerning responsible use of artificial intelligence by business leaders? doesnot concern itself with the dangers faced by the job market or the workingclass, but instead chooses to strictly describe the challenges faced bycorporate leaders concerning the use of cognitive machines. Those who will beaffected in terms of employment, while mentioned in the article, takes a backseatto concepts of high economics and changing workplace environments.
One thingnotably lacking from Accenture’s statements on artificial intelligence is thetopic of how automation of work could affect jobs for the working class. Inaddition to this blog post, their website features a page listing the benefitsof automating financial services¹º listing the benefits of cutting out humansto save time, money, and reduce the potential for human error. These twoexamples show the main focus of Accenture on benefiting corporate leaders.While they are aware of the potential difficulties to come with the automationof labour, their main focus is the benefits for businesses, and in turn theirbusiness, when implementing artificial intelligence in the workplace. Critical Review:Accenture’s approach to the topic of artificialintelligence, while progressive, clearly demonstrates a specific motive. Unlikecertain groups and coalitions which operate without profit in mind, Accentureis a for-profit corporation, and their policies demonstrate a for profitattitude as well.
The corporation demonstrates their support of the continueddevelopment of cognitive machines through certain media publishings, but evenmore greatly through their practices with the businesses they consult with. Thekey focus of accenture in consulting for the future shapes their clientsbusinesses with strategies which include the most cutting edge technologies theworld has to offer. Throughout history, the development of AI has influenced thejob market greatly by automating jobs which had previously required humaninput. While this can be seen as a cost-cutting measure for those in charge, itcan put many working class individuals out of a job.
Accenture, however,consults with businesses from the top, meaning that their interests involvecreating more profit for their client corporations as a whole rather thanfavouring the multitude of individuals performing labour on the lower levels. Conclusion:It can be concluded, therefore, that while Accenturealigns its views with many other progressive groups and organizations, theirmotivations for doing so may not be the same. Unlike certain groups whichoppose or support new developments in AI citing economic or philosophicalbeliefs, Accenture’s motives are purely for the advancement of large businessesin their efforts to bring in profit. While this type of motivation is not anobjectively evil one, it is important to understand that the goals of Accentureand that their viewpoint is not built out of any research aside from marketresearch.
The ethics of developing more intelligent machines, along with theeffects that automation of human tasks can have on society are not prioritiesto an organization based around money making. It is unfortunate that automationof workforce labour is such an enticing cost-cutting strategy, as Accenture’sinterest in artificial intelligence demonstrates very little in the ways ofsupporting those at risk of losing employment to artificial intelligence. A1Quotation but no reference
