Professional services firm EY said on Wednesday it has invested $1.4 billion in artificial intelligence and was rolling out a platform offering AI-powered versions of its consulting products to businesses, the latest company to bet big on the technology.

The move aligns the consulting firm with rivals like KPMG and Accenture, which are pouring billions into AI, hoping it will be their next big growth driver.

The EY.ai platform has AI-embedded versions of the firm's products like the data management product EY Fabric, which is used by 60,000 clients, the company said.

"AI's moment is now. Every business is considering how it will be integrated into operations and its impact on the future," EY Global Chairman and CEO Carmine Di Sibio said.

EY said it plans to train its staff in the technology and will release a large-language model (LLM) called EY.ai EYQ. An LLM is the core machine-learning software that powers AI systems.

The company had secured early access to Microsoft's Azure OpenAI capabilities like GPT-3 and GPT-4 through an existing partnership with the software giant.

It has also partnered with technology and information companies like Dell, SAP and Thomson Reuters, to invest in the technology and explore its use.

Thomson Reuters is the parent company of Reuters News.

  - Reuters