Accenture, the global consulting giant, has partnered with leading enterprise AI startup Cohere to bring its language models and search capabilities to businesses worldwide. The collaboration, announced today, aims to provide enterprise clients with tailored generative AI solutions that can significantly boost productivity and efficiency across industries.

Cohere’s proprietary large language model (LLM), Command, along with its advanced enterprise search technologies, Embed and Rerank, will power the AI solutions offered through the partnership. By leveraging Accenture’s deep industry expertise and cloud infrastructure, the companies plan to help businesses integrate AI into their operations at scale while prioritizing data privacy and security.

Extremely excited to announce our partnership with to bring Command, Embed, and Rerank to the over 9000 enterprise clients that rely on Accenture's expertise in implementing AI. Thank you Lan and team for the partnership!https://t.co/sw3scYif25— Aidan Gomez () March 5, 2024
Early success and growing demand for enterprise AI solutions

One of the key strengths of Cohere’s technology lies in its Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) capabilities, which enable language models to access and incorporate real-time information from various data sources.

This feature enhances the accuracy and timeliness of the AI-generated content while helping to mitigate concerns around hallucinations — a common issue where AI systems produce seemingly plausible but factually incorrect outputs.

The partnership has already yielded promising results, with Cohere’s Command model powering a knowledge agent for Accenture’s Finance and Treasury teams.

Aidan Gomez, co-founder and CEO of Cohere, said in a tweet that the partnership will immediately impact more than 9,000 enterprise clients that rely on Accenture for AI solutions. Cohere’s AI system can accurately summarize financial data, detect variances and send customized alerts to improve decision-making and operational efficiency.

As businesses move beyond the experimentation phase with generative AI, the demand for scalable, enterprise-grade solutions is rapidly growing. Accenture’s $3 billion investment in AI and its extensive client network, coupled with Cohere’s innovative technology, positions the partnership to capture a significant share of this expanding market.

Harnessing the power of AI for business transformation

The enterprise AI market is witnessing a fierce battle as tech giants and innovative startups vie to deliver cutting-edge generative AI solutions to businesses worldwide.

The recent partnership between Accenture and Cohere showcases at least some of this intense competition, combining the consulting firm’s industry expertise with the AI startup’s advanced language models and search technologies.

However, Accenture and Cohere are not alone in this race. Microsoft, Google and IBM are heavily investing in the space, leveraging their unique strengths to develop enterprise-ready AI solutions. Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI and Google’s Vertex AI platform are just a few examples of the significant strides being made. A thriving ecosystem of AI startups further intensifies the competition, each offering innovative approaches to tackle the challenges of enterprise AI adoption.

The race to bring generative AI to businesses heats up

As the race heats up, the impact on the future of work is profound. Generative AI has the potential to revolutionize business operations, decision-making and value creation. However, the rapid pace of innovation necessitates a proactive approach to re-skilling and upskilling the workforce. Businesses must invest in training programs that enable employees to work alongside intelligent systems, leveraging their unique human skills.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 found that nearly a quarter of all jobs (23%) globally will change in the next five years. For workers who choose to stay in their current roles, the share of core skills that will change in the next five years is 40%, and 50% of all employees will need re-skilling. Similarly, the World Bank estimates that 14% of the world’s jobs could be automated within the next 15 to 20 years, and another 32% of jobs will be radically transformed.

As more collaborations between AI startups and consulting firms emerge, the winners will shape the trajectory of AI adoption and redefine the nature of work in the age of artificial intelligence. Success will require a thoughtful and responsible approach that prioritizes trust, security, and the well-being of both employees and customers alike.