EY and Microsoft launch US$1bn global AI program worldwide

EY and Microsoft have launched a global artificial intelligence initiative backed by more than USD $1 billion over five years, expanding their long-running alliance.

The plan brings together Microsoft's Forward Deployed Engineers with EY advisers and sector specialists to help clients roll out AI across core business functions. Initial work will focus on finance, tax, risk, human resources and supply chain in sectors including financial services, industrials and energy, consumer and retail, government, and health care.

The investment comes as large organisations seek to turn AI pilot projects into broader operational programmes with clearer financial returns. EY and Microsoft said they will use integrated teams, shared governance and aligned commercial models to deliver industry-specific systems for clients' highest-value business opportunities.

EY said the initiative builds on its own internal use of Microsoft AI products, describing itself as "Client Zero" for the programme. The firm said it first deployed Copilot to 150,000 users and recorded a 15% increase in productivity, which it redirected into client delivery and learning.

It is also extending Microsoft 365 E7: The Frontier Suite across its workforce of more than 400,000 people. According to EY, the broader rollout is embedding agentic AI tools across the organisation.

Internal testing

EY pointed to several internal projects as evidence for the model it now plans to offer clients. In finance operations, work using Microsoft Power Platform and Copilot Studio cut lead times by 95% and reduced operational costs by more than 37%, the firm said.

In assurance, EY said it integrated a multi-agent framework using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Foundry and Microsoft Fabric into EY Canvas. The system covered the workflows of 130,000 assurance professionals across 160,000 audit engagements.

In tax, the firm said it adopted Microsoft Azure AI Document Intelligence on its Global Tax Platform to extract data from documents, reducing manual workload by up to 90%.

"Together with Microsoft, EY is supporting clients to unlock value through rapid deployment of AI at scale. With access to a single, integrated team, clients will have at their disposal both Microsoft's market-leading engineering depth, alongside EY teams' deep industry knowledge and change management capabilities. By combining people and innovation in this next phase of the Alliance, clients will be empowered to realize the transformative power of agentic AI within the enterprise," said Janet Truncale, Global Chair and CEO of EY.

Microsoft framed the initiative as a response to changing customer demand as organisations move beyond early experimentation. Businesses pulling ahead are those embedding AI into broader operating models rather than limiting the technology to isolated trials, it said.

"AI is quickly moving from experimentation to a core driver of business performance, and the companies pulling ahead are those scaling AI Transformation. Our initiative combines Microsoft's trusted AI platform and engineering teams with EY's industry capabilities and experience as 'Client Zero'-applying these technologies across their own organisation, to help customers move beyond pilots to enterprise execution, enhancing decision-making and delivering measurable impact," said Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft's Commercial Business.

EY Canada also pointed to demand in its domestic market for broader AI deployment. It said organizations are increasingly looking to connect AI projects across different parts of the business rather than treating them as stand-alone tests.

"Across the Canadian market, the shift is clear. The focus is moving from testing ideas to putting AI to work across the business. This initiative brings together Microsoft's "Forward Deployed Engineers" (FDE) and EY change management and deep domain expertise to accelerate AI adoption. Proud to continue working alongside Microsoft to support Canadian organizations move beyond AI isolated use cases toward more connected, enterprise-wide impact," added Doug Carsley, Partner, Canada Microsoft Leader at EY.