Deloitte shares new Gen AI platform with professional network and charity Scope

Deloitte has launched PairD, an artificial intelligence chatbot to be used by 75,000 of the firm's employees across Europe and the Middle East. The tool, which Deloitte is also offering free of charge to disability charity Scope, can boost productivity by generating responses to emails, writing code and creating PowerPoint presentations.  

The motivation for Deloitte to share this technology with Scope is driven by their wider pledge to help close the digital divide. 

Deloitte UK’s CEO Richard Houston spoke to their motivations for sharing this technology, explaining: “Generative artificial intelligence (AI) should be available and accessible to everyone and businesses like ours must ensure that the adoption of AI promotes social equality rather than exacerbating existing disparities.” 

A spokesperson at Deloitte told IAB that, before rolling the solution out to other companies and charities, the company’s current focus is to see how Scope benefits from using PairD, assessing the barriers to usage for individuals with disabilities, such as its integration with accessibility software. It is hoped that this ensures future improvements to the chatbot are as inclusive as possible, to allow it to go on to help other charities similarly.

While PairD’s platform and guardrails have been developed in-house by Deloitte, the chatbot uses commercially available large language models (LLMs). 

This follows Deloitte’s launch of its DARTbot, which was geared to provide insights for US-based audit and assurance professionals.

Throughout 2023, professional services firms have been experimenting and learning about LLMs and generative AI, ascertaining how they can be of use across their networks. GlobalData’s Generative AI in Financial Services report identified the technology as the fastest-growing in the wider AI gamut, estimating that the total AI market will be worth $908.7bn by 2030.  

The rest of the Big Four have also been investing heavily in AI. Last year, PwC partnered with Harvey, an OpenAI Startup Fund, which provides PwC tax and legal services professionals with access to the platform which can generate insights, recommendations and predictions. Meanwhile, KPMG has been internally building an LLM and running training programs for their employees while, in September 2023, EY launched EY.ai, a platform helping their clients to adopt and leverage AI’s capabilities as part of a US $1.4bn investment.

On the utilisation of AI by professional services firms, Robert McGillen, CIO of Financial Services at CBIZ, noted in an interview with IAB in November that 2024 was likely to be a breakout year in the use of generative AI in audit, tax and advisory solutions. While 2023 was defined by the Big Four getting acquainted with the technology, this year is already seeing it being put to use and the effects on the workforce and beyond being realised.