Microsoft strikes $2 billion AI partnership with KPMG

Details: All of KPMG's businesses — audit, tax and advisory — will be impacted by the products that will be developed through this expanded partnership, KPMG U.S. chair and CEO Paul Knopp tells Axios.

• KPMG and Microsoft also will work together to train KPMG's 265,000 global employees on how to use AI and the new products to their advantage.
• Audit and tax teams will be able to more quickly access and interpret regulations by relying on generative AI to sort through large amounts of text.
• Consultants could test proposals for potential outcomes, such as how a digital strategy or product launch might resonate with a certain market.

What they're saying: "There's no doubt that as you try to optimize the internal workings of an organization, that generative AI is going to help point us in the right direction [of] more effective and efficient ways to do business in the future," Knopp says.

The big picture: Companies across industries have been rushing to demonstrate their embrace of generative AI since OpenAI's ChatGPT stunned the world with its capabilities.

• Consulting firms have a particular need to show that they have in-house AI prowess.
• Microsoft is the largest outside investor in OpenAI.

What to watch: Investments into AI are expected to have a huge multiplier effect on future revenue.

• The market for generative AI enterprise applications alone is expected to grow to $98 billion by 2026, up from an expected $43 billion this year, according to Pitchbook.
• "We're pretty confident, over the next several years, that we'll create $12 billion of global opportunities for additional revenue for KPMG," adds Knopp.

Go deeper

• PwC investing $1 billion over the next three years into AI