The short answer is no, artificial intelligence will not replace management consultants, nor will it completely replace many other complex jobs and make the human workforce obsolete. While many strategic leaders rely on their intuition, hard work, and years of industry experience to make decisions, much of this insight is simply a deeper understanding of data that was historically difficult to collect and costly to process. Artificial intelligence is rapidly closing this gap and will soon be able to help human beings overcome our processing capabilities and biases. These advances will change many jobs, for example, those of consultants, lawyers and accountants, whose roles will evolve from analysis to trial. It's easy to see how AI is already making its presence felt in the consulting world.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a new partnership between UBS Wealth Management and Amazon allows some of UBS's European wealth management clients to ask Alexa certain financial and economic questions. It's hard to imagine how AI could completely replace consultants (we're most likely imagining a killer robot and Will Smith). However, as technology has become more prevalent in the banking sector, computers have taken on more responsibilities that were once handled by bank managers. For example, AI could determine if a group of employees receives a different evaluation, management, or compensation. Although the financial services sector has already begun to move from active management to passive management, artificial intelligence will make the market move even further, towards management using intelligent machines, such as Blackrock, which is incorporating algorithms and computer-based models into more traditional actively managed funds. In conclusion, artificial intelligence will not replace management consultants entirely.
Instead, it will provide them with new tools and insights that can help them make better decisions. AI can also help automate mundane tasks that take up valuable time and resources. Ultimately, AI will be an invaluable asset for management consultants as they continue to provide their expertise in an ever-changing world.
