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Consulting industry with AI ?

“If the consulting business was a stock, I’d be shorting it right now.” —Peter Thiel

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Kevin
Coach
bearbeitet am 18. Juli 2025
1st session -50% | Ex-McKinsey | Ex-BCG | MBB Germany Expert | CV & Cover Letter Review | FREE 15min intro call!

I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

Content on PPT slides that could be replaced by AI is just a small part of the job. Clients will still need someone to talk to all the stakeholders, read the room, convince clients to share data, collaborate with colleagues, conduct workshops.

And on a more senior level: CEOs need a trusted advisor, sometimes even someone to point at and blame.

Interpersonal relationships are not leaving anytime soon.

Cheers

Kevin

Anonym A
am 17. Juli 2025
Ok thank you Kevin
Salman
Coach
am 20. Juli 2025
Ex-McKinsey (Dubai) | 4+ YoE | Jr. Engagement Manager in Private Capital + Public Sector | Interviewer-led MBB coaching

I'll take a different stance on what others are saying here. While I disagree with Thiel's ideological stances on a lot of things, including his strangely grim outlook on humanity's survival, he is kinda onto something with respect to consulting.

I think consultants have been stuck in that classic bias CGP Grey nailed in his video "Humans Need Not Apply": the belief that automation is for other people. That's over. The very foundation of the consulting pyramid, the junior consultant's grunt work, is getting eaten alive by specialized AI.

  • Research & Analysis: the weeks a Knowledge Analyst spent digging through industry reports and trends are now done in minutes. Tools using frameworks like Google's NotebookLM can synthesize data it into insights
  • Slide-making: the pain of building the perfect deck and visual graphics is disappearing. AI tools (e.g., Manus) can now take a messy brief and spit out a polished presentation in minutes
  • Financial Modeling: even complex Excel modeling is being automated via services like ModelML. You can now prompt an AI to build a five-year cash flow projection, and it will generate a functional, debugged model faster than you can explain the task

So what's left? The consulting teams of the future may turn out to be small, being run by senior people, Partners and APs (maaaaybe EMs), whose main job is to direct these "agentic armies" of AI, with the key test of their skill being asking the right questions with respect to their domain of expertise, and adequately solving the client's problem. The next step beyond that is, what's stopping the client from doing this themselves and spending $20/month instead of $XX Mn per project?

Big players are already publishing thought pieces on this, and you can see it in the reports and "Agentic AI 101" primers being put out by the likes of McKinsey, Google, ServiceNow, and OpenAI. The old leverage model that made consulting so profitable is fundamentally broken.

Analysts and associates need not apply.

am 17. Juli 2025
#1 Rated McKinsey Coach | Top MBB Coach | Verifiable success rates

AI is a buzzword these days, which is expected to change every industry in a fundamental way. For now, I haven't seen proof of this. 

What I do expect to happen is that consulting will change as an industry as a consequence of integrating AI, but I doubt it will be replaced by it altogether. Even on a most basic level, if you've ever tried problem solving with an AI engine you've already come across some of its limitations.

Best,
Cristian

Hagen
Coach
bearbeitet am 23. Juli 2025
#1 recommended coach | >95% success rate | 9+ years consulting, interviewing and coaching experience

Hi there,

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

  • First of all, it’s true that many AI tools now can do slide work, research, and financial modeling faster than entry-level staff ever could.
  • Moreover, however, what still adds value - and won’t disappear soon - is the human element: knowing which problem to solve, challenging a client’s assumptions, aligning stakeholders, or navigating politics in a boardroom. AI can't do that.
  • Lastly, I personally believe the consulting firms that adapt will win - those who can smartly blend human insight with machine speed.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on the topic, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Mihir
Coach
am 21. Juli 2025
McKinsey Associate Partner and interviewer | Bulletproof MBB prep

I agree with Kevin's points - consulting work is very much a people business, and AI is not able to replace those activities as yet.

No doubt things like building a model, creating ppt charts, doing research etc. will be made quicker as a result of AI tools.

But a lot of the deep insight you get to in consulting projects is as a result of interviews with global experts or senior stakeholders on topics where very little publicly available information is available. 

Alternatively, many projects need you to deeply understand the issues an organization faces by talking to - and problem-solving with - its employees.

AI models cannot generate that kind of insight on their own.

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