We’ve heard this story a thousand times before. The internet was supposed to make consulting firms obsolete by giving everyone direct access to all the world’s knowledge, then big data promised to replace external expertise with intelligent tools. Each time, we were told that consulting was on its last legs, and yet it is still here and, ironically, we often turn to it for help in mastering the technologies that were supposed to make it disappear.
Generative AI is part of this line of innovations that will change everything and cause a lot of disruption. As is often the case, predictions of its demise are based on a misguided view of the realities of the profession. Yes, this isn’t the first time that technology has automated part of consultants’ work, but that’s not where their value lies.
In short:
- Past technological waves have not eliminated consulting, and generative AI is following the same path by automating certain tasks but without replacing the core value of the profession.
- AI is taking over junior tasks (data collection, synthesis, simple analysis, support), reducing team sizes and increasing the need for seniority, interpretation, and strategic guidance.
- Firms must integrate new skills (data science, AI engineering, business expertise, technology “translators”) and combine generative, analytical, predictive, and prescriptive AI to strengthen the relevance of their recommendations.
- Value is shifting towards experts and partners who are able to influence decision-makers, play a political role and build relationships of trust, dimensions that AI cannot replicate.
- The transformation requires a rethink of training and career paths in order to develop judgment skills, complexity management and understanding of human dynamics more quickly.
How AI is really changing consulting
The most visible impact concerns tasks historically assigned to junior staff: gathering information, summarizing documents, performing basic statistical analysis, and preparing materials. This work, which is often repetitive, can now belargely automated thanks to tools capable of producing documents in seconds that used to take hours to put together. And, frankly, these are tasks that none of them will miss, even if, in the end, it calls into question their ability to advance their skills.
This has a direct consequence: project teams will shrink and the structure of assignments will evolve, with less gross production and more value placed on interpretation, recommendation, and change management. Clients will therefore expect more seniority in teams, greater proximity to decision-making, and a keen understanding of internal political issues.
But this transformation is not limited to a simple move upmarket. It also changes the composition of teams. Firms will need to bring in more data scientists, AI engineers, business specialists, and “translators” who can connect technology to strategy. We are already seeing this at McKinsey, which has invested heavily in new expertise, including predictive modeling, while deploying powerful internal tools (AI Is Coming for the Consultants. Inside McKinsey, ‘This Is Existential.’ and 5 Ways McKinsey Is Using AI), or at BCG, which has generalized the use of ChatGPT Enterprise and developed thousands of AI agents for its consultants (How BCG Is Revolutionizing Consulting With AI: A Case Study).
It is worth noting that even OpenAI, one of the symbols of generative AI, has chosen to launch an integrated consulting offering to support its customers in the adoption and implementation of its tools (OpenAI’s $10 Million+ AI Consulting Business: Deployment Takes Center Stage). This move clearly shows that technology alone is not enough, and OpenAI implicitly recognizes that value also lies in human support, a detailed understanding of business challenges, managing internal resistance, and translating technical potential into tangible results.
From time spent to value produced
AI is not only transforming the way consultants work, it is also reshaping the sector’s economic model. The traditional model based on billing for time spent, which has already been called into question in recent years, is gradually giving way to approaches based on value produced. Some large firms, such as McKinsey, claim that nearly a quarter of their assignments are now paid for based on results achieved.
In this context, clients no longer pay for hours or deliverables, but for tangible impact: productivity gains, successful transformation, accelerated implementation. By automating some low-value tasks, AI is reinforcing this trend and encouraging firms to focus their efforts on areas where human expertise really makes a difference.
In this respect, it ultimately changes nothing and merely accelerates transformations that are already underway.
There is more to life than generative AI
Generative AI sparked the debate on the future of consulting, but it is only one of many forms of AI available to us (AI for dummies who want to see a little more clearly). Limiting the subject of AI to the generative field alone would therefore be a major mistake, and the most advanced firms are already using analytical, predictive, prescriptive, and hybrid AI, which processes massive volumes of structured data, models scenarios, and optimizes entire processes.
These other forms of AI do not replace consulting, but they empower it, as they make it possible to anticipate risks, test hypotheses, and simulate the impact of decisions before they are implemented. Here again, the value lies not in the raw data, but in the ability to interpret the results, translate them into actionable decisions, and defend them to stakeholders.
The role of experts and partners
At the top of the pyramid, the role of recognized experts and partners is becoming increasingly important. In an environment where standardized deliverables are becoming commonplace, value is increasingly concentrated among those who can create direct access to decision-makers, engage in strategic discussions, and bring a vision that goes beyond mere execution.
Their personal credibility, often built up over years of experience, becomes a commercial lever and a guarantee of trust. AI can of course accelerate analysis or enrich preparation, but it will not replace this ability to influence, reassure or open doors at the highest level.
Why value is shifting toward seniors
As tasks that can be automated disappear, skills such as judgment, complexity management, and organizational navigation are becoming central. However, these skills are acquired over time and through exposure to a variety of situations.
This raises the question of how to train future seniors if traditional career paths, which involve several years of junior assignments, are drastically reduced (Will AI replace juniors? The false debate that’s only the tip of the iceberg). We will need to rethink career paths, incorporate more immersive training, and perhaps create new intermediate stages that are not based on simply collecting data and producing deliverables.
A profession that is as political as it is technical
It should also be remembered that consulting is not just about intellectual output. Sometimes, the consultant’s role is to act as a lightning rod, and clients may launch a project knowing full well that it has little chance of success but wanting to be able to blame the failure on an external party.
In other cases, they simply need a report signed by a prestigious name to prove that they have “worked on the subject” before filing the document away in a drawer. These realities, cynical as they may be, explain why the presence of an external firm retains value, regardless of what AI can produce. The algorithm will not take responsibility for failure or act as a political guarantor within an organization.
These are roles that consulting firms, and even more so front-line consultants, hate to play or are often made to play without their knowledge, but for the client, these roles are sometimes priceless.
Trust, a rare strategic asset
Finally, there is one dimension that AI cannot replicate: trust. An experienced consultant, sometimes playing the role of Jiminy Cricket, can challenge a leader, listen to their doubts, and confront their choices without any hidden agenda.
This ability to become a confidant or a critical mirror relies on a keen understanding of people, their motivations, and their constraints, and is entirely a matter of intuitu personae. It also requires knowing how to navigate the informal realm, which machines cannot perceive. In an environment of data and algorithm-generated recommendations, the rarity and therefore the value of reliable human judgment continues to increase.
Bottom line
AI, whether generative or not, does not spell the end of consulting. It is transforming its structure, accelerating certain tasks, disrupting career paths, and pushing for more seniority in teams. It also requires the integration of new expertise and a rethinking of talent training.
But it does not replace judgment, understanding of human dynamics, or the ability to take on a political role in complex environments. Consulting will survive, not by opposing AI, but by intelligently integrating it into its practice, while cultivating what technology does not know and will probably never be able to replicate: the art of supporting human decisions in all their complexity.
Image credit: Image generated by artificial intelligence via ChatGPT (OpenAI)
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