AI insights from Wall Street, Accenture, and a Business Professor
The latest most transformational stories you need to know.
Dear reader,
Welcome to BN Edition: concise analysis on the stories that offer us hints at our unfolding future. Fresh from the desks of the Brilliant Noise team.
Each edition takes a handful of stories from recent weeks and asks three things:
What? The story in a few sentences.
So what? Why do I need to know?
What next? What do I need to do or watch out for?
This week, find out more about:
AI can replace much of Wall Street’s entry-level white-collar work
Accenture’s insights about Gen AI adoption among global companies
Wharton School Professor writes the book on AI
Gen AI may wipe out Wall Street’s “grunt work”
What?
Generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) is disrupting the investment banking industry by replacing entry-level “grunt work” traditionally performed by analysts.
Major banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are testing Gen AI tools that could potentially replace a significant portion of their analyst workforce, leading to a reduction in hiring and potentially lower pay for junior analysts.
Source: The Worst Part of a Wall Street Career Might be Coming to and End, The New York Times
So what?
Gen AI tools can now perform tasks such as assembling presentations, crunching data, and analysing financial documents more efficiently and with less effort.
While human involvement will still be necessary, AI is expected to reshape the industry and change the nature of Wall Street careers.
What next?
Wall Street’s reaction to Gen AI is predictably grim. But that is because the finance sector is ruthless. They will make cuts whenever and wherever possible. And whatever opinions we have about their ethics, it’s not a people-first business model. Money wins. Always.
In the City, they will replace people with machines tomorrow and not worry about their reputation. They only focus on the bottom line and how much cash they’re making. But for many other industries and businesses, there are starkly different priorities, like social governance, responsibility and sustainability.
A comforting mantra for those coming to terms with AI is “AI will not replace you, but someone with AI skills will.”
Wall Street’s reaction to Gen AI is in contrast to the majority of the working world’s mood music. Generally, redundancies are a sign of defeat. They are undertaken with regret, remorse and sadness. It's a sign that the current business model isn’t working.
Accenture’s insights about Gen AI adoption among global companies
What?
Accenture's Q2 earnings call shed light on the company's strategic direction, particularly concerning generative AI (Gen AI).
Source: Accenture’s Q2 Earnings call Transcript
So what?
Sales of Gen AI consultancy services have increased by 20% quarter-on-quarter, to a total of £1.1bn for the first half of their financial year.
This shows global companies are interested in:
AI literacy
Finding use cases
Experimentation to scale solutions
With over 53,000 data and AI practitioners (a fuzzy conflation of roles and expertise we see a lot in public companies), Accenture plans to double its AI workforce by the end of fiscal year 2026. It’s unclear if that would be through hiring or retraining existing staff. The company has reported significant Gen AI bookings, reflecting a strong market demand.
What next?
Generative AI capability and innovation is a priority in the world’s biggest companies.
But also that it’s not a software challenge, it’s a people challenge.
To stay competitive, re-skilling in AI is essential. Not only because we’re entering into a new renaissance of innovation, but the ways in which we innovate will also be redefined.
Accenture’s 20% increase in Gen AI consultancy shows us that businesses are starting to understand they need a ‘now, near, far’ strategy for AI because that’s the nature of innovation and any technological platform shift – first we do things a bit better, then we reinvent the way we do them, then we invent entirely new things.
Wharton School Professor writes the book on AI at work
What?
Ethan Mollick is a Professor of Management at Wharton, specialising in entrepreneurship and innovation.
He’s also the single most important voice in AI and the future of work. And he just released Co-Intelligence – a handbook on living and working with AI.
So what?
Now that consumer AI has arrived, you must read this book. Ethan Mollick has done the most work in this area about how to think about the future.
If you want to understand the who, what, when, where, why, and how of Gen AI this is for you.
It’s practical, it’s demonstrative, sometimes entertaining and it’s written in a non-technical style that makes this new strange, uncharted yet hugely exciting era we find ourselves in easy to understand.
As Ethan says:
“We have invented technologies, from axes to helicopters, that boost our physical capabilities; and others like spreadsheets, that automate complex tasks; but we have never built a generally applicable technology that can boost our intelligence.”
Until now.
What next?
Read his Substack: One Useful Thing
Order the book: Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick
We never disagree with him. 10/10 cannot recommend enough.
Thank you for reading.
The Brilliant Noise team