There is only one way to overcome workers' fear of AI, says PwC's Tim Ryan

• Since generative AI burst onto the business landscape last November, CEOs and other C-suite leaders have been trying to understand the impact the technology will have on their companies.
• Employees are worried AI will erase their jobs.
• It's up to C-suite leaders to bring employees along and provide the upskilling needed to make the most of AI.

Jacob Wackerhausen | Istock | Getty Images

As companies look to deploy generative artificial intelligence across their businesses, leaders run the risk of leaving the bulk of their employees behind. 

That's a mistake that will cost companies dearly, according to PwC's Tim Ryan.

Since generative AI burst onto the business landscape last November, CEOs  have been trying to understand the impact the technology will have on their companies. Breathless interviews about generative AI's ability to do everything from supply chain management to customer service better, faster, and with fewer humans in the mix, have dominated the headlines.

Meanwhile, workers, still trying to recalibrate after the pandemic and the massive layoffs that occurred last year thanks to sky-high inflation and an uncertain economy, are wondering if AI will permanently erase their jobs. 

Ryan said he's seen this cycle before. When he took over the top spot at PwC in 2016, the firm was in the midst of its own aggressive tech transformation. Workers, he said, were worried their jobs were going away as a result. He knew the only way to quell that worry was to train them on the new technologies PwC was using. 

"We taught our people how to use data analytics, bots, how to use visualization and we had massive success," he said. "We made a commitment to our people not to leave them behind as long as they chose not to be left behind. Upskilling was very important because we were sensitive to what our people were feeling, and that was worry." 

AI as a job creator, not job eliminator

Ryan said he sees that same job loss worry bubbling up again, but this time more intensely since AI is dominating the conversation. However, he's not "in the camp that foresees the elimination of large parts of the workforce. I don't think AI is a mass job eliminator." 

An aging population, economic growth coming from overhauls to healthcare and infrastructure, and more nearshoring to eliminate supply chain risk are just some of the reasons why he believes the AI-as-job-eliminator narrative is false. 

"AI is going to be an evolution, not a revolution," he said. "To think we're going to wake up tomorrow and find an entire part of the workforce wiped out is a bit naïve." Instead, what Ryan is seeing within PwC and with the company's clients is a shift in what employees should do and what can be better done by AI.

Inside PwC, for example, AI is enabling auditors to speed through 150- to 200-page 10-K financial documents in a fraction of the time it took them before. Looking for trends and anomalies in these filings is what auditors do all day long, Ryan said. Through PwC's partnership with Microsoft, the company built its own version of ChatGPT. This private platform enables PwC auditors to look at multiple companies in different sectors to unearth trends and analyze data. The company said it's part of a $1 billion investment over the next three years to expand its AI offerings. 

"The auditors' jobs didn't go away, just the less exciting part of hunting down data," he said.

The part of the job that brings out the true value of the auditors — analyzing data — in fact, got better, Ryan added.

As for the messaging that needs to come from CEOs and other C-suite leaders about AI, Ryan said clarity and transparency should lead the way.

"Our words matter. Be clear and never mislead anyone," he said. "[The adoption of AI] is going to happen over time, not in an instant so don't put people in a panic. Tell them how you're going to help them stay relevant."