PwC Canada makes $200M investment to expand AI capabilities

• Industry-leading relationship with Microsoft to position the firm and its clients to harness generative AI to build trust and drive sustained outcomes 
• Investment underscores our approach to drive human-led, tech-powered solutions and builds on our existing efforts to digitally upskill 2M Canadians by 2025

TORONTO, Monday, May 29, 2023 — PwC Canada has announced plans to invest $200M over the next three years to expand and scale its artificial intelligence (AI) offerings and help clients reimagine their businesses through the power of generative AI. The investment builds on PwC US’ $1B commitment to invest in AI and the Network's long-standing commitment to AI. It strengthens PwC's ability to deliver human-led and tech-powered solutions and to build trust and drive sustained outcomes in line with its global strategy, The New Equation.

This investment features an industry-leading relationship with Microsoft, creating scalable offerings using OpenAI’s GPT-4/ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service which will enable PwC to transform the way we and our clients work while harnessing the power of generative AI. PwC will leverage this technology to help support clients in reinventing their businesses and delivering better outcomes by generating richer insights, driving more productivity and developing new products and services in a way that builds greater trust with their stakeholders.

PwC Canada’s investment will include upskilling our 9,000 people on AI tools and capabilities, as well as accelerating our STEM talent hiring. It builds on our existing efforts to digitally upskill two million Canadians by 2025 with an increased focus on sharing our pro-bono capabilities to further enhance our social impact. The new investment will arm our people with the knowledge and skills they need, starting with generative AI, to work faster and smarter, help grow their careers, and advise clients on the benefits of AI as well as broader digital and technology. In parallel, PwC will retool internal platforms to embed this new secure generative AI environment, building on its existing foundation of using AI to deliver productivity gains.

“We are at a point of inflection–in business and society. Generative AI has the potential to transform the way we live and work, and will reshape our clients’ business models for products and services,” says Chris Dulny, Chief Digital, Data and Innovation Officer, PwC Canada. “Our investment builds on PwC’s ability to bring ‘human-led and tech-powered’ solutions to our clients and our people, and underscores our core purpose and strategy: to build trust and solve important problems.”

PwC has already started implementing capabilities within Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service for clients in various industries including insurance, aviation, and healthcare, among others. These solutions have successfully enabled clients to save time and costs while helping accelerate revenue.

“The potential for AI to create new business value for customers across Canada has never been more tangible and accelerated,” said Chris Barry, President, Microsoft Canada. “Through this new collaboration, PwC will utilize Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to enhance their capabilities and offer cutting-edge customer solutions, backed by Azure’s trusted enterprise-grade features and AI-optimized infrastructure. Together, we share a common vision of enabling digital transformation with generative AI to unleash the potential of businesses across Canada.”

Responsible AI will help PwC Canada and its clients harness Generative AI in a safe and trustworthy way. According to PwC’s recent 26th Annual CEO Survey, 25% of Canadian CEOs don’t think their businesses will be viable in 10 years if they continue on their current path and do not transform. Business leaders recognize the need to reinvent their businesses, through investments in digital transformation, process automation, deployment of cloud, AI and other advanced technologies. 

At PwC, we drive governance and accountability through our Responsible AI framework to help clients build and deploy OpenAI’s generative AI technology across a variety of use cases with a focus on governance, fairness, transparency and explainability, as well as protecting the confidentiality and security of data. Not only will this unlock greater value and outcomes for PwC clients, but it seeks to build greater trust in AI platforms, underscoring PwC’s purpose–to build trust in society and solve important problems.

This investment builds on PwC’s long-standing commitment to artificial intelligence, and PwC Global’s capabilities have been recognized as a leader in AI by Gartner, IDC and Forrester. Just recently, PwC’s Tax & Legal Services (TLS) announced an agreement with Harvey, which is backed by the OpenAI Startup Fund and built on OpenAI and Chat GPT technology to automate and enhance various aspects of legal and tax work

For more information about our generative AI capabilities, visit our website here. For more details on the strategic alliance between PwC Canada and Microsoft Canada, click here.