AI is forcing the consulting industry to reinvent itself.
The biggest firms are racing to weave the technology into nearly every facet of their businesses — from how consultants execute client projects to how employees are trained, promoted, and measured.
McKinsey, BCG, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC, and IBM Consulting are all now hiring more technical talent, building AI tools and AI agents, and pushing staff to use them in their day-to-day work.
Business Insider has closely covered how the consulting industry is changing. See our stories below on how AI is reshaping the work, and the firms and startups leading the shift.
How the work of consultants is changing
AI is changing not only how consultants advise clients, but also who does that work.
Consulting firms are now promoting a new class of so-called “forward-deployed engineers” — employees who work directly with clients to customize AI tools, connect them to company data, and turn them into products that solve specific business problems. In some sense, they are becoming the new consultants: part engineer, part strategist, and part translator between AI systems and the companies trying to use them.
The rise of AI agents
AI agents are changing the structure of consulting work itself.
Firms are using them to automate rote tasks, shrink project teams, and shift more work to smaller groups of humans supervising networks of digital coworkers. At BCG, IBM, McKinsey, and elsewhere, consultants are being asked not just to use AI tools but to build, manage, and oversee agents that could reshape the traditional consulting hierarchy.
The new age of consulting
AI is bringing consulting and Silicon Valley closer together — and even, at times, blurring the line between them. Big firms are trying to become more like tech companies, building software, hiring engineers, and turning their expertise into products.
At the same time, AI startups are coming for consulting’s core business, offering faster, cheaper versions of strategy work, research, and analysis. The result is a new competitive landscape where McKinsey, BCG, Deloitte, and the Big Four are both cozying up with tech companies and defending themselves against them.
