Companies are moving quickly to adopt artificial intelligence (AI), but many still struggle to prove its worth, said Mathieu Wallich-Petit, Head of Clients & Markets at KPMG France, during an interview with Euronews Next at the VivaTech event in Paris. According to a report published by the company in March, a staggering 95% of its clients have a strong AI strategy in place, and 64% have already witnessed tangible results from their technological investments. However, just a mere 8% can measure a clear return on investment. “Our clients do embed a real strategy in AI, but in reality, on the ground, there is still a big lag,” Wallich-Petit pointed out.
He emphasized that KPMG’s main role is to assist companies in bridging the gap between the rapid technological advancements and the slower pace of organizational adaptation. “What is amazing is that the pace of acceleration of the technology is really exponential,” he noted. Yet, the adoption rate within individual companies remains quite linear. According to the survey findings, only about 10% of KPMG clients have successfully embedded AI at scale in their operations.
In the insurance sector, companies are beginning to harness AI for purposes beyond just claims handling. “Before, it was very much about automation of claims, and now it’s very much end-to-end, from scoring new clients, pricing, and to customer service,” he explained. This shift highlights how businesses are increasingly seeing AI not just as a tool for efficiency, but as a robust strategy for growth and customer engagement.
KPMG also observed that companies are continuing to increase their AI budgets, as board members recognize the technology’s potential as a competitive advantage and a means to attract talent. Nevertheless, organizations are now more vigilant in assessing whether these investments can yield clear and rapid returns, according to Wallich-Petit. He believes that the focus during the transition to AI should center around the workforce. “My view is that it’s really about people, it’s not a question of technology,” he asserted. “Upskilling people, training people, is probably the most important strategic angle to make an AI strategy a success.”
For those companies still caught in between pilot projects and broader deployment, Wallich-Petit underscored the importance of embedding AI into daily business processes. “The magic recipe is very much to move from proof of concept, from piloting, to really embed into the process,” he stated. This transition also entails stronger governance, better data management, and increased training for employees, he added. “We always say it’s having people in the loop. I think it’s more than that. We need to have people driving with AI,” he emphasized.
Moreover, he pointed out that AI sovereignty is becoming an increasingly pressing issue for companies, especially as they depend on a limited number of powerful model providers. “The main theme is not to rely on only one model, but to have a diversity of models,” he advised. This concern has taken on greater significance as access to certain advanced AI models becomes entangled in geopolitics.
In May, KPMG and US-based AI company Anthropic announced a global alliance to integrate Claude into KPMG’s client delivery platform, thereby granting its global workforce access to the AI assistant. Just weeks later, Anthropic disclosed that it had been instructed by the US government to halt access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for any foreign nationals.
As the landscape of AI continues to evolve, one can only wonder how companies will adapt and what new challenges they may face in the near future.
Kaynak: Orijinal Haber