EY Forms AI Council to Guide Global Tech Strategy

EY, the global professional services firm known for its audit, tax and advisory work, has created an independent advisory council to guide its artificial intelligence strategy as technology adoption accelerates across the professional services sector in 2024.

The council's formation follows EY's launch of EY.ai in September 2023, a platform that integrates artificial intelligence capabilities - computer systems designed to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence - across the firm's service lines.

Leadership and structure

EY has appointed Raj Sharma, its Global Managing Partner of Growth and Innovation, as council chair. Gil Forer, who leads Digital and Business Disruption at the firm, serves as co-lead.

The council includes Daniel Dines, founder and CEO of UiPath, a firm specialising in robotic process automation - software that automates repetitive digital tasks. Ashish Vaswani, who heads Essential AI, a company developing large language models - AI systems trained on vast amounts of text data - also joins the group.

Clara Neppel, Senior Director of European Operations at IEEE, brings technical standards expertise to the council. Maurice Conti, CEO of Applied Intelligence, and Rotem Alaluf, founder of Wand AI, provide additional technology sector perspectives.

Academic and Research Focus

The council incorporates university expertise through David De Cremer, dean of Northeastern University's D'Amore-McKim School of Business and founder of the Centre on AI Technology for Humankind.

Sunita Sarawagi, who heads the Center for Machine Intelligence and Data Science at IIT Bombay, brings technical research experience. Shannon Vallor, Professor of Ethics of Data and AI at the University of Edinburgh, and Nathanael Fast, Director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership at USC Marshall, contribute expertise in AI ethics.

Kate Kallot, founder of Amini, a company developing AI applications for emerging markets, joins the council to address technology accessibility. Stephanie Ifayemi, head of policy at Partnership on AI, a non-profit focusing on responsible AI development, brings regulatory expertise.

The council's remit spans three areas: internal AI development, client transformation programmes, and societal impact. It will examine applications from climate change to healthcare while considering potential risks.

"The astonishing pace of change being driven by AI demands that organizations proactively collaborate with a wide variety of AI leaders to stay ahead of the curve and shape their future with confidence," says Raj. "Being guided by focused knowledge from different backgrounds is essential for leading-edge innovation and helping clients manage ethical and security risks, regulatory compliance and responsible leading practices."

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