EY is dangling bonuses of up to $25,000 for workers who prove their human skills still matter in the age of AI

Ernst & Young is putting real money behind a simple idea: AI may speed up the boring parts of accounting, but it hasn’t made human judgment disposable. The firm plans to spend $100 million on U.S. workers who sharpen what it calls “future-focused” human skills — things like business acumen, judgment and adaptability — while also using technology to improve client service and drive new ideas.

The rewards range from spot awards of up to $500 to cash awards of up to $25,000 for individuals and teams whose work has a material impact on the firm, according to the Wall Street Journal. That is a very specific message from a Big Four firm: don’t just use the tools, prove you can do more than the tools can do.

EY Americas Chief Talent and Culture Officer Ginnie Carlier framed it as a values play. The firm, she said in a press release, wants confident professionals who learn quickly and create lasting impact. She also said the awards are meant to encourage a curious mindset and push people to challenge what is possible. In other words, the prize isn’t for looking busy around AI. It’s for changing the work in a way clients can feel.

The timing makes sense. Accounting firms are trying to make employees more fluent in AI without flattening the human skills that still separate a trusted adviser from an output machine. That balance is already showing up in how young workers think about the job. At KPMG, 76% of the latest summer intern cohort said future success will require both strong human skills and the ability to direct AI effectively, while 43% worried that overreliance on technology could weaken critical thinking.

The bigger problem is the pipeline. A BambooHR survey found that one-third of new accounting and finance hires quit within their first year, while the same survey showed a 3-to-1 ratio of senior-level hires to entry-level hires. AI is taking over routine tasks that once taught younger employees the business from the ground up, which means firms now have to create new ways for them to build judgment, not just automate it away.