AI Chiefs Say True Enterprise Transformation Remains 'Close to Zero'

Large organizations have largely failed to rebuild their core operations around artificial intelligence, according to the technology chief of one of the world's largest consulting firms. Marc Warner, Accenture's global chief technology officer, said the number of major enterprises or government processes that have been genuinely reinvented with AI at their absolute core is «basically close to zero.»

Warner spoke during a Fortune Brainstorm AI virtual event alongside three other executives: Matthieu Caillat of the insurer AXA, Greg Ulrich of Mastercard and Marjorie Janiewicz of the AI developer Mistral AI. Their discussion focused on why so many companies report little return from AI despite widespread adoption. The panelists' answers pointed less to software limitations than to organizational change.

Warner said most companies have deployed AI in peripheral work such as marketing, meeting notes and transcription. Coding is «perhaps a little different,» he said, because returns there can be measured. But changing the economics of an industry requires targeting core business processes, which is inherently risky. He compared the current moment to early factories that used electricity only for lighting before redesigning production around electric motors.

Ulrich said the biggest returns come from redesigning whole workflows rather than layering AI onto existing ones. He described Mastercard's product development lifecycle as «very, very advanced» in that regard, with smaller teams and faster turnaround. He also pointed to a common trap: speeding up one step in an 80-step process simply creates a backlog at the next step. «The AI agent to automate a piece of this isn't the long pole in the tent for a lot of this,» Ulrich said. «It's the rethinking. It's the remapping.»

Warner characterized AI transformations as «politics projects,» saying he had thought of them as technology projects until recently. He still sees the AI builds themselves as technology work. Caillat said that as the technology improves, the challenge is less about technology and more about «how do you bring people along.» Ulrich said Mastercard relies on CEO sponsorship, including weekly updates with the chief executive's direct reports, but added that no one has solved the politics of large organizations.

On the question of accountability when an AI agent goes wrong, Warner said there is no single clean answer. In general, the business owner is accountable for an agent's value, the technologist for its functionality and the chief information security officer for its security. He said most companies should not dwell on fault yet, urging them to give people credit for trying things even though many will fail. He made an exception for critical incidents such as a major security breach. Janiewicz, who said she spent 10 years in cybersecurity, agreed that finger-pointing is not useful. She said the better question is whether a company controls the technology it adopts and can set its own guardrails. Mistral sells open-weight models that customers can run on their own infrastructure.

The executives also said their plans have a short shelf life. Ulrich said consulting tools Mastercard built about a year ago are now «quaint, and just not that useful today,» so the company is rebuilding them. Caillat said AXA used to «measure twice and cut once» and «can't afford that anymore,» because conclusions expire before certainty arrives.

Caillat said AXA started with about 400 AI use cases to build enthusiasm, then narrowed its focus. He said the insurer's plan for 2027 to 2029 targets 500 million to 700 million euros a year in recurring pre-tax value from AI by 2029, and that AXA has about 4 billion unstructured documents it is starting to use.

Warner said that, by Accenture's calculations, the pace shows no sign of slowing until something approaching 2030. Energy constraints in the West could start to bite in the early 2030s, he said.

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Delaney Sawyer

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Delaney Sawyer covers public affairs, politics, business, culture and daily news for Core Memo. The role focuses on verification, context, and clear explanations for readers.

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