Why KPMG's head of AI strategy isn't worried consultants will become obsolete

• KPMG's head of an AI and digital innovation group expects the tech will require more workers.
• Steve Chase is tasked with transforming KPMG US through adoption of AI, analytics, and other tech.

Tech bonanzas can throw a lot of people out of work.

That's one of the concerns about the stampede toward artificial intelligence. Steve Chase, a longtime consultant at KPMG US, has heard the warnings. And he heard them in the late 1990s and mid-2000s about the rise of the internet and the job-killing effect it could have on consulting.

Chase, who will run a new AI and digital innovation group at KPMG US, expects AI will be like other tech waves — just bigger. And like those prior waves, he expects the company will continue to grow.

"We're absolutely envisioning needing more people," he told Insider, "because the number of questions we're getting from clients is increasing."

That's likely welcome news for the 35,000 US employees at the accounting and consulting giant. KPMG said over the summer it would invest $2 billion into AI over five years as part of an effort with Microsoft.

"We have the ability to be much faster and much more comprehensive using these tools to put knowledge in the hands of someone who needs it to be able to solve a business problem," Chase said. One way people will remain essential, he said, is to ensure the information and recommendations AI produces have merit.

Humans will need to be able to ask the right questions of AI to get sound answers, Chase said. They'll also need to ask for and evaluate citations so they can understand what AI might be basing its recommendations on, he added.

That need for humans to interact with AI is notable because, in the past, automation has made some jobs obsolete. Yet, over time, those same technological gains can end up creating more jobs than they snuff out because they make workers more productive. One question some observers have is whether the AI wave will be different than the many tech innovations before it — whether it will be so profound that the number of jobs created won't keep pace with those lost.

Remaking the company and how work gets done

Chase said the goal he's been assigned is to transform KPMG US through the systematic adoption of AI, analytics, and other emerging tech.

Part of what makes AI unique, he said, is that in the past, people on the business side of a company would often turn to the tech folks and ask them for help in achieving a goal. "It's now technology is literally changing the opportunity to think about the business model," Chase said.

One example of a change at KPMG US could be in how the company pulls together the decisions that emerge from meetings with clients, especially big, multiday gatherings where many people need to know the outcomes. There's traditionally been a lot of work in documenting decisions and outlining next steps. "We're bringing online the ability to radically change that in terms of how that occurs, and be able to summarize out, have the emails written, and the follow-ups done, etc.," he said, referring to how AI will help.

Beyond having a bot make recommendations on next steps, using AI will mean rethinking how teams are set up. Groups focused on client engagement or on functions like marketing won't be set up the same way as in the past, he noted.

"And so you have to teach people what their new job is," Chase said. Those jobs will involve "people enabled or augmented by an ever-increasing, better set of tools."

Chase said clients are often asking how AI gets used inside companies. He said KPMG US has examples to point to, particularly in areas like internal audit, finance, human resources, and operations. But the wider impact, he said, is the broad knowledge AI can bring to all workers within an organization.

Companies will need to be able to articulate an AI strategy, Chase said, yet also think in more sweeping terms. "Tell me what your business strategy is and put AI in it," he said. "Think about where your business model could be disrupted and think about what you're going to do about it."

By handing over some of the heavy lifting to AI, Chase said he expects more employees will have time for analysis and to work with others to make sure those insights are shared and understood.

"I know people are talking about, 'Well, it's going to cut down on human interaction,'" he said, referring to AI. "I see it exactly the opposite."