CW@60: The moment technology became personal

Technology, opportunity and trust

At its best, technology creates new opportunities for growth and innovation, opening doors that simply weren’t there before and giving people the means to pursue them. Every development also brings new risks to navigate. The organisations that get furthest are the ones that treat managing those risks as a way to build trust and enable progress, not as something that slows it down.

The risk side of my career brought that into focus – understanding uncertainty, managing exposure, and helping organisations govern the complexity that new technology brings while still driving value from it. Those that did it best didn’t use risk as a reason to stand still – they used it to earn the trust to move forward.

That matters because technology is about far more than systems and infrastructure. It changes how decisions get made, helping people weigh uncertainty, challenge assumptions and make better calls. The value is not only in making processes smoother or tasks quicker, but in helping people deliver better outcomes and stand behind the decisions that led to them. Judgement isn’t replaced – it’s sharpened.

Leading through the AI shift

We’re living through another one of those moments now, and I don’t say that lightly. What’s happening with AI is bigger. The capital flowing into it, the speed at which it is moving, and its reach across every sector are on a scale I never saw in Silicon Valley. Unlike then, this change isn’t confined to one place – it is reshaping how work is done everywhere, all at once.

“Looking ahead, I think we talk too much about what technology can do, and not nearly enough about what people and organisations need from it”

Claire Reid

AI is driving an unprecedented pace of change for employees and organisations alike, bringing real opportunity alongside real uncertainty. What strikes me most is how quickly things now move from pilot or proof of concept into full deployment. What once took years is happening in months.

That is why AI is no longer simply a technology issue – it is a leadership issue. People are asking what it means for their role, their skills and what comes next. The organisations that succeed will be the ones that help their people make sense of the change and benefit from it, not simply those that deploy the tools fastest.

What I find genuinely interesting is what organisations are now hiring for. Our AI Jobs Barometer, drawn from more than a billion job ads worldwide, found that roles where AI takes on the routine work are growing twice as fast as those where it doesn’t, and that they increasingly call for judgement, creativity and leadership.

As AI absorbs more of the routine, the questions that matter most are the ones it can’t settle on its own – is this the right call, can we stand behind it, what do we do next?

In conversations with clients, I see leaders grappling with this every day. Our latest UK CEO Survey found nearly six in 10 UK CEOs are personally sponsoring transformation programmes, while 61% say they face increased scrutiny on their leadership decisions.

Leaders aren’t only implementing new technology – they are being asked to bring their people with them.

Looking forward and realising potential

Looking ahead, I think we talk too much about what technology can do, and not nearly enough about what people and organisations need from it. It’s easy to get swept up in conversations about new platforms and capabilities, but at the core of any transformation are the people using those tools, backed by the skills, support and trust they need to use them well.

That also means recognising that no organisation can realise the potential of technology alone. The pace and complexity of change make strong technology alliances increasingly important, bringing together the best technology, expertise and ideas.

For me, the opportunity is in combining those ecosystems with deep sector expertise, human judgement and trusted relationships to create outcomes that genuinely matter.

I feel genuinely optimistic. Not because anyone can predict exactly where these technologies are headed, but because I’ve spent a career watching people rise to meet the change in front of them.

For leaders, that means holding two things at once – keep moving forward with the technology but invest just as much in helping people use it well. Be honest about the risks and clear about how you’re managing them.

In my experience, that is what earns the trust to move quickly, not what holds you back.

Claire Reid is chief technology & innovation officer at PwC UK.