Kevin O'Leary has a new rule for the companies he backs. Got a problem you'd once pay a consultant to fix?
His answer now is simple: try AI first. He says that switch is already here.
The shift is fast, too. He says it only took hold in the last two years.
He made the point on The Founder's Mindset Podcast. His companies now skip outside firms and go straight to AI.
The reason is cost. AI does the same work for far less.
"Even the companies that I invest in that used to use a lot of consultants... are first going to AI, which they can do for a lot cheaper," he said.
Picture AI as a junior analyst. It works for pennies and never sleeps.
It takes the slow grunt work first. That means research, slide decks, and basic models.
Those are the tasks software now finishes in seconds.
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Here's the odd part. The big consulting names aren't fighting this trend.
They're cashing in on it instead. McKinsey now says about 40% of its work ties to AI.
BCG put that number at 20% back in 2024. Accenture went a step further.
It folded several teams into one AI unit. The name? "Reinvention services."
These firms also build their own tools. McKinsey has an assistant called Lilli, and BCG has a slide-builder called Deckster.
Some firms even rent out engineers. They sit inside client teams and wire the tools in.
It's a bit like a taxi company. Then it gets paid to build the app that lets riders skip the cab.
So they win on the way in. They win again on the way out.
Not every job looks the same to AI. The repeatable parts go first.
Research, market sizing, and slide decks are easy to copy. So those hours are the ones most at risk.
The human parts are harder to fake. Messy client politics and hands-on rollouts still need real people.
So the safe jobs need a handshake. The risky ones just need a spreadsheet.
That split is why the firms hire in a new way. They want fewer junior analysts and more engineers.
The AI labs are pushing it along, too. OpenAI signed deals with McKinsey, BCG, Accenture, and Capgemini, and Anthropic built its own consultant network.
The number to track is the mix. More AI work in the revenue pile means the model is shifting fast.
The hiring matters too. A smaller base of junior staff would reshape the whole pyramid.
O'Leary is just one investor talking. But the firms' own numbers back him up.
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