Dec 1 (Reuters) - Accenture ACN.N will equip tens of thousands of its IT professionals with ChatGPT Enterprise through a partnership with OpenAI, as the consulting firm looks to capitalize on the growing demand for AI services.

Shares of Accenture rose over 2.8% in premarket trading following the news.

The companies on Monday said they will also launch a new artificial intelligence program to help enterprises in various industries, including financial services, healthcare and retail adopt AI-powered workflows.

Amid uncertain government spending and a cloudy economic environment, Accenture is ramping up AI integration to attract enterprise clients, along with launching an $865 million restructuring in September to realign its workforce, cut costs and improve efficiency.

With AI systems becoming more advanced, concerns have grown around their potential impact on the consulting industry's large global workforce, as new software can rapidly collate, process and generate content with precision.

As part of the OpenAI partnership, Accenture's teams will use ChatGPT Enterprise for internal and external work, while accelerating AI upskilling across roles, the companies said.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)

((Zaheer.Kachwala@thomsonreuters.com;))