PwC's AI chief says the tech is 'overwhelming everyone,' but companies moving fast are seeing 3 times the revenue

• PwC's global head of AI, Joe Atkinson, appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box Asia on Tuesday.
• The Big Four executive said that the pace of AI change is "overwhelming to everybody."
• But companies that move fast on AI can see three times the return per employee, Atkinson said.

Worried about how AI is affecting your job? You're not alone.

Everyone from the board to management to employees has concerns about the new technology, said Joe Atkinson, PwC's global head of AI, in an appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box Asia on Tuesday.

"It's a complex time in the world of AI implementation," said Atkinson. The pace of AI change is "overwhelming to everybody" and there's a "mismatch" between how quickly organizational change can keep up with it, he said.

Global companies routinely look to PwC, one of the industry's leading consulting and accounting firms, for answers to their most consequential business questions. With AI rapidly transforming how businesses operate, guidance on reorganizing for an AI-first future is becoming one of the most sought-after offerings.

Atkinson said that the next phase of implementing AI inside companies is scaling the technology's capabilities, and companies that move quickly will see the most reward.

"We've talked for the last year about proofs of concept and experimentation, and frankly, those days are over. We now have to scale the impact of AI in organizations," Atkinson said.

"The good news for employees is if we scale the impact of AI for organizations, I truly believe we create and unlock growth," he added.

According to PwC's data, organizations that adopt AI more quickly have seen three times the revenue per employee compared to those that proceed more slowly.

"That opportunity means that it's not only a big upside for organisations. It is a big upside for employees who lean in and use these tools to help create greater productivity, outputs, and creativity," Atkinson said.

In April, Reuters reported that the US telecom company Verizon had seen a 40% surge in sales since its 28,000 customer service reps began using an AI assistant.

PwC and other leading consulting firms have embraced AI, pitching themselves as client zero for the solutions they offer to clients and implementing AI solutions across all operations.

EY, one of PwC's key competitors, recently reported that its AI-related revenue was up 30% in its latest financial year, which ended on June 30, 2026. The firm has invested more than $1 billion annually in recent years in developing AI-first platforms and products, including 1,000 AI agents and the deployment of more than 100 internal AI applications.

New hires at PwC will be doing the roles that managers are doing within three years because of AI, Jenn Kosar, PwC's AI assurance leader, told Business Insider in August.

The technology is also affecting the firm's hiring plans. In August, Business Insider obtained part of an internal presentation showing that PwC US planned to cut graduate hiring by a third over the next three years, in part due to "the impact of AI."

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