The boss of one of Britain’s biggest tech firms says embracing artificial intelligence (AI) could help to ‘turbocharge’ productivity in the UK.
Steve Hare, chief executive of FTSE 100 accounting software group Sage, said using the capabilities of new ‘generative’ AI, similar to that of ChatGPT, would leave British workers with more time to focus on complex tasks.
‘The way we see it, this [technology] allows humans to concentrate on things that they’re good at and be released from more repetitive and more administrative tasks,’ he said.
He added that AI could be used as ‘an assistant or co-pilot’ for accountants and business advisers.
Gamechanger: Sage boss Steve Hare said using the capabilities of new ‘generative’ AI, similar to that of ChatGPT, would leave British workers with more time to focus on complex tasks
‘I see it as an opportunity to drive more growth,’ said Hare. ‘If you think about the UK, for many years, it has struggled with its productivity and I see this as a really big opportunity to turbocharge output.
We should use AI to free up people and let them focus on the areas where they can add the most value.’
The comments came as Newcastle-based Sage posted a strong set of half-year figures that prompted the firm to upgrade its forecasts.
The group reported a profit of £227million for the six months to the end of March, up 14 per cent year-on-year, while revenues climbed 12 per cent to £2.1billion.
Growth was boosted by the firm’s cloud computing business, which saw sales surge 29 per cent to £787million.
As a result, Sage predicted its full-year recurring revenues would rise by 11 per cent, up from previous forecasts of above 9.4 per cent. The shares climbed 2.6 per cent, or 21.8p, to 842.8p.
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