Artificial intelligence is changing the way we work. And companies want you to get onboard. Accenture has announced that promotions for senior employees will now depend on how much AI they are using at work. The message seems to be clear, those who don’t use AI will be left behind.
As per the Financial Times, the company has informed associate directors and senior managers that promotion to leadership roles would require “regular adoption” of AI tools via an email. That is, if you don’t use AI, you will likely not get promoted.
This comes at a time when Accenture is increasingly shifting focus towards AI. During the India AI Impact Summit, Accenture CEO Julie Sweet discussed the future of companies with AI. She said, “Companies must be willing to reinvent how they operate their processes, how they’ve been doing work for the last few decades. Companies have to invest to reshape their workforces.”
Accenture previously laid off 11,000 workers, which it believed could not be “reskilled” with AI. The company has spent $2 billion in severance packages in the past 3 years alone.
Accenture joins Google, Microsoft in pushing AI
This is not the first time that a company has given such a clear indication that it wants employees to go all in on AI.
In June 2025, Microsoft told employees that “using AI is no longer optional.” Microsoft executive Julia Liuson had informed managers to consider AI usage in performance evaluation. A few weeks ago, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reportedly warned senior executives that they should consider leaving the company if they did not believe in its AI plans.
While Meta reportedly started tracking AI usage of employees as early as October last year, Google too is not far behind. The company recently offered voluntary exits to select business unit employees who may not be ‘all in on AI.’ Last year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated that those who don’t use AI at Google ‘risked falling behind.’
This indicates an industry-wide shift as companies focus more on productivity via AI. Over one lakh IT workers have been laid off in the past year, encompassing companies such as Amazon, TCS, Infosys, Accenture. Companies are betting that AI will help them increase productivity while reducing the headcount in the process. And to make sure this bet succeeds, they seemingly want their employees to use AI as much as they can.
How will Accenture monitor AI use?
The company will reportedly monitor the usage of its AI tools by employees. This will include tracking log-ins to in-house AI platforms such as the AI Refinery. Accenture will be able to get a complete picture of who is actually using AI at work.
Accenture CEO Julie Sweet previously described AI Refinery as a platform that will “create opportunities for companies to reimagine their processes and operations.” AI Refinery was built in partnership with NVIDIA.
Though this does not apply to all employees. As per the report, staff in 12 European countries and those in divisions managing US government contracts are exempt, mainly due to regulatory or contractual limitations on technology usage. It is also unclear whether entry-level workers could face a similar mandate in the future.
