{"text":[[{"start":8.3,"text":"HR directors will have to take responsibility for managing AI agents alongside human staff in future, according to the UK head of Accenture, who said businesses would be forced to rethink leadership models for the AI era."}],[{"start":22.5,"text":"Matt Prebble, chief executive of Accenture UK and Ireland, told the FT: “When you consider running the organisation of the future, you’re going to think about how do I set up the organisation so that I’m managing people, but also agents and AI and technology?”"}],[{"start":38.45,"text":"Integrating AI agents was hard work and required careful management, he added. "}],[{"start":44.5,"text":"“For the small number of clients that have managed to get an authentic agentic AI working in their organisation . . . you have to onboard agents, you have to train the agents . . . that could be the HR director’s job.”"}],[{"start":57.15,"text":"Prebble said AI was prompting boards to reconsider how to reshape their workforces. “We’re on the early part of that journey [to understand] how does the organisation structure of leadership really change,” he said."}],[{"start":70,"text":"That could mean changes to C-suite roles, according to Prebble, who has led the UK and Ireland arm of the global consultancy since October."}],[{"start":78.4,"text":"Accenture advises thousands of corporate and public sector clients globally, with a particular emphasis on technology consulting."}],[{"start":85.5,"text":"“As AI takes on more execution, for example, the COO role is evolving”, he said, with “operational leaders increasingly accountable for AI-driven outcomes”."}],[{"start":95.4,"text":"Companies may also need to create a role along the lines of a “chief trust officer” as AI puts that commodity under strain, he said. “I don’t want to say the word chief trust officer, but . . . trust is going to be just so important,” he said."}],[{"start":109.80000000000001,"text":"The issue was particularly acute for technology groups such as Google, Anthropic and Apple, Prebble said, “big ecosystem players” that had already embedded “trust” into their organisation charts. "}],[{"start":122.30000000000001,"text":"Accenture has itself overhauled its executive structure. The US-listed consultancy helps some of the world’s largest companies adapt their businesses to AI, but has been attempting to reform itself simultaneously. To mirror the way clients operate and buy services, it has shifted away from its traditional division between consulting, technology and other business lines towards broader “reinvention” projects. "}],[{"start":146.25,"text":"The changes came as Accenture sought to convince investors that it would benefit from AI, rather than be disrupted. "}],[{"start":153.3,"text":"Its shares have more than halved in value in less than 18 months and its market value at one point fell below $100bn for the first time in six years. The decline has been driven partly by fear that AI could replace many of the tasks carried out by its 786,000-person workforce and force it to slash prices. "}],[{"start":173.4,"text":"Prebble rejected suggestions that Accenture was particularly exposed to the problem because of its large number of junior staff or that it had not done enough to address the threat. "}],[{"start":182.8,"text":"“The perception that Accenture has kind of stood still and not transformed things is entirely wrong.”"}],[{"start":188.70000000000002,"text":"Rather than cutting entry-level hiring, Accenture plans to increase UK graduate recruitment by 40 per cent next year, according to Prebble."}],[{"start":198.05,"text":"The top of the company’s personnel pyramid might be changing in response to AI, but the bottom did not need to narrow, he said. "}],[{"start":205.45000000000002,"text":"“This perception that you don’t need the bottom of the pyramid, you don’t need the next generation coming through, is misplaced. That’s based on a narrow view of productivity,” he said. "}],[{"start":223.4,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1781600701_4895.mp3"}