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Accenture is betting $3 billion on AI

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As the business world takes into account the impact that artificial intelligence can have on, well, everythingconsultancy firm Accenture announced on Tuesday invest $3 billion in the technology within the next three years.

It’s the latest sign of the growing enthusiasm for AI and how companies across the spectrum are taking steps to adapt and integrate services like chatbots into their businesses. “There is unprecedented interest in all areas of AI,” said Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture.

Accenture plans to double its AI-focused workforce to 80,000, through a mix of recruitment, acquisition and training. (The company has 738,000 employees.) It also plans to use generative AI more in its clients’ work and help customers increase their use of the technology.

Other consultancies have also made major AI strides: PwC said in April it would invest $1 billion over the next three years EY announced in 2021 that it would invest $2.5 billion over three years. Bain and Company has partnered with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, while Deloitte partners with chip maker Nvidia. And IBMwhose AI work goes back at least to Watson’s introduction, has announced a “Center of Excellence” for generative AI

The business world in general is going big on AI Investments in generative AI alone are expected to pay off $42.6 billion by the end of the year, according to PitchBook. And mentions of “AI” or “artificial intelligence” on corporate investor calls have skyrocketed this year.

But consulting giants are still grappling with what AI means for their business. They are already under pressure to stay relevant amidst challenges facing their industry, which may include customers cut back on their services amid economic headwinds.

While many companies are embracing AI to automate a growing number of tasks, some executives are quick to note that the technology can’t replace everything they do: things down,” said Alex Singla, who leads McKinsey’s AI consulting team, told Observer last week. “That’s where I think management consulting still has a big role to play.”

Donald Trump will be indicted on Tuesday on charges of classified material. The former president will appear in a Miami courtroom to face charges of stealing national security materials after leaving office. Tonight he plans organize a fundraiser at one of its New Jersey golf courses; however, a super PAC has begun, supported by the Koch network running advertisements against him.

Far-right Republicans admit they crippled the House. Rebellious lawmakers agreed to let the chamber vote on some issues yesterday after seizing control of the floor in retaliation for Chairman Kevin McCarthy’s role in the debt ceiling bill. They have threatened to block further legislation if McCarthy does not give them more power.

Binance’s US branch is fighting an SEC attempt to freeze its assets. In a lawsuit ahead of a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, the crypto exchange urged a federal judge reject the supervisor’s move, which it said would make it virtually impossible to continue doing business. The SEC sued Binance last week, accusing the exchange of violating securities laws.

Will Apple cross the $3 trillion threshold again? Shares of the iPhone maker rose nearly 1.6 percent yesterday, boosting market value just short of $2.9 trillion. Enthusiasm for Apple’s new virtual reality headset may help propel the company’s market cap above $3 trillion for a second time — it reached that level last year — though shares fell slightly in premarket trading.

Stocks appear to be boosting gains Tuesday morning as investors await a crucial consumer price index report, due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.

Market participants are betting that Tuesday’s inflation report will be relatively tame, leading the Fed to leave interest rates unchanged at a meeting on Wednesday. The so-called “Fed pause” in recent weeks has helped boost some rate-sensitive sectors, especially technology stocks, sending the Nasdaq and S&P 500 to 14-month highs yesterday.

The most important thing to pay attention to: Economists predict inflation has continued to fall over the past month, with the overall CPI figure falling to 4.1 percent, a significant drop from last summer’s peak of 9 percent. Economists see good progress in food and energy prices, which have remained stable or declined in recent months.

It’s a different picture for core inflation, which removes food and fuel prices. There’s been less improvement there as prices for used cars, airline tickets, and vacation accommodations have risen in recent weeks. That “speed bump,” said Bank of America chief U.S. economist Michael Gapen, will continue to pressure the Fed to raise rates this summer, likely in July.

“A skip is not the same as a long pause,” he wrote in a preview note.

Elsewhere in the markets:

  • Stocks in Hong Kong and Shanghai closed higher on Tuesday after Beijing surprised the market with a reduction in one of the short-term interest rates. Investors expect various stimulus measures in China to boost domestic demand in the world’s No. 2 economy as a downturn looms.

As regulators around the world scramble to rein in Big Tech, the European Union is reportedly preparing to crack down on one of Google’s most profitable businesses: the technology that powers much of Internet advertising.

The European Commission is expected to file a formal antitrust complaint on Wednesday accused by Google of abusing its dominant position in ad technology Bloomberg And The Wall Street Journal. The division is big for Google, bringing in nearly 14 percent of the company’s $54.5 billion in ad revenue in the first quarter.

The commission launched an investigation into Google’s ad-tech division in 2021 and has already imposed three fines, worth about $8.6 billion, on other parts of the company, including those related to the Android operating system .

The question may be more drastic this timeaccording to The Journal: European regulators could decide that only the sale of parts of the ad-tech business will restore competitive equilibrium.

It is not only Europe that is stepping up the pressure. The Justice Department has leveled similar allegations against Google’s ad-tech business and is seeking to undo some of its acquisitions. British regulators, who have been flexing their muscles in recent months, are also investigating.

But will this affect Google’s core business? Shares of its parent company, Alphabet, rose slightly in premarket trading on Tuesday despite the news, taking its market value to $1.5 trillion. And Google has challenged previous EU sanctions after taking its defense in the Android case to Europe’s top regulatory court.

  • In other tech regulation news, the FTC has filed a lawsuit in federal court to prevent Microsoft from completing its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a further hurdle to the mega deal.

— Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, writes to Congress about the deadlock that ended last week when the professional golf organization merged with LIV, a Saudi-backed rival league. Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, announced an investigation in the deal.

JPMorgan Chase closed a potential $290 million deal with victims of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after a hectic weekend of phone calls, late-night meetings and last-minute negotiations.

But the bank’s lawyers aren’t done yet: JPMorgan is challenging a separate case brought by the U.S. Virgin Islands, which yesterday submitted new evidence that the bank’s executives knew about the illegal activities of the disgraced financier, who died in 2019.

How the deal came about: Lawyers for the bank and victims were far apart after weeks of negotiations that went down to the wire, David Boies, the attorney representing the victims, told DealBook. “There has been very hard fighting,” he said, of an agreement that has yet to be approved by a judge.

On Sunday, Boies took calls while dining with his family at a restaurant and negotiations continued past midnight after he got home. They resumed around dawn yesterday. After the two sides finally settled on a number, talks continued on what the bank would say. JPMorgan yesterday reiterated that it regrets the association with Epstein but has not admitted liability.

What came out in the US Virgin Islands case: The territory, where Epstein had a home, sued JPMorgan last year, saying the bank failed to stop him from setting up a sex trafficking operation there. ‘No one wants him’ Epstein’s private banker wrote in a 2008 email, the area’s new filing shows. It also revealed a dozen communications from 2007 to 2013 that suggest executives knew about Epstein’s crimes.

Will they settle? A deal in the Virgin Islands case could be attractive, especially if JPMorgan’s defense that the territory was complicit in facilitating Epstein’s crimes is thrown out. Cases have moved unusually fast because Judge Jed Rakoff is forcing the lawyers to be “more realistic,” Boies said. He believes the bank’s lawyers got more serious about settling with its clients after a hearing in May, when Rakoff said he was inclined to classify the victims’ case as a class action.

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