Among companies spending on AI, roughly four times as many are investing in employee-facing AI projects rather than customer apps, the survey also found. Sixty percent of the select group of companies responding to the survey described generative AI as critically important to their business, and artificial intelligence is the single-largest technology spending budget line item for the next year at 44% of companies. Cleaning up the vast amount of data already stored on a corporate enterprise is a process that could take a few years. "A lot of the spending on gen AI today does feel like it's more about prioritizing spending ... clients are focused on transforming using technology, data and AI, so a lot of what's driving our sales is getting ready for AI. We're seeing a lot of modern platforms being put in place because if you can't access your data, you're not going to be able to take advantage of AI," Sweet said.

---

Persons: Charles Giancarlo, Julie Sweet, Sweet Organizations: CNBC Technology, CNBC, Accenture