AI tools only matter if your employees actually use them, as many companies are learning the hard way.

Consulting giant Accenture is now correlating promotions to use of its AI tools, aiming to encourage “regular adoption” of AI by making it a requirement to earn leadership roles, according to a report from the Financial Times.

Confirming the report, Accenture told CNBC that, in order to be the “reinvention partner of choice” for its clients, consultants themselves must adopt “the latest tools and technologies to serve our clients most effectively.”

It’s not the first time Accenture’s AI exuberance has impacted its workforce.

• In September, the company laid off 11,000 employees as part of an AI-focused restructuring program. CEO Julie Sweet said that, as part of “upskilling our reinventors,” those who cannot be reskilled “will be exited.”
• And further buying into the space, Accenture struck a multi-year agreement with Anthropic in December to train 30,000 of its professionals on AI and increase Claude adoption.

Accenture’s decision comes as companies sound the alarm on the gap between AI deployments and AI skills. One survey from Google and Ipsos found that, though 70% of managers see an urgent need for an AI-ready workforce, only 14% of workers have actually been offered AI training.

To address the chasm between what we have and how we use it, Google on Thursday launched the Google AI Professional Certificate to its career certificate program. This gives its students training on how to practically use Google’s frontier models in enterprise settings, including use cases like building infographics, conducting deep research, turning goals into project plans with timelines and vibe coding custom apps, the company said in its announcement.

Our Deeper View

AI is creating a barrage of mixed messages in the workforce. Some reports push the narrative that AI is going to completely replace thousands of jobs, and is already primed to do so. Others, meanwhile, claim that AI is actually increasing workloads by democratizing the amount of tasks that the non-technical employee can do. Even though employers are largely pressuring employees to make good use of this technology, employees may feel as though they’re training their replacements. And while it’s too early to fully understand how AI will reshape the workforce, the pressure from stakeholders and C-suite executives could foster a looming sense of dread that the tech represents an existential threat to employees' livelihoods.