- Kevin O'Leary says companies prefer AI over consultants for cost-effective solutions.
- Companies O'Leary backs replaced consultants with AI in the past two years.
- Consultancy seen as a short-term career, with long tenure viewed negatively.
Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary has claimed that companies around the world are avoiding hiring consultants in favour of artificial intelligence (AI). Speaking on a recent episode of The Founder's Mindset Podcast, O'Leary stated that the companies he backs have integrated AI to perform the work that was previously outsourced to consultancy firms.
"Even the companies that I invest in that used to use a lot of consultants for very specific vertical situations, like changing retail distribution, or should they keep two tiers of distribution versus three, are first going to AI, which they can do for a lot cheaper," O'Leary said, as per Business Insider.
O'Leary pointed out that the change has happened rapidly in the last year or two, adding that these companies are instructing their internal management teams to test those ideas, bypassing the need for traditional consultants altogether.
"This has only been the last 24 months," said O'Leary.
The Canadian businessman explained that even if consultancy jobs survive the AI revolution, it is a career path with a capped ceiling. However, he added that a short stint in the industry can help the rookies looking to find their footing.
"One of the things that you could argue is good about consulting is, if you spend less than two years there, and you're going to search all 11 sectors of the economy to find out where you fit, that makes sense to me," he said.
"When I see a resume where someone wants to be a CEO of one of my companies, and has been at a consulting firm for seven years, I just tear that up."
Future Of Jobs
While consultantcy jobs face an existential crisis, several AI domain leaders have warned that the impact of the technology can be far and beyond. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has repeatedly warned that AI could wipe out half of the entry-level jobs within the next five years. Amodei said repetitive-but-variable tasks in law firms, consulting, administration, and finance could be eliminated soon, with CEOs looking to use AI to cut costs.
"Specifically, if we look at jobs like entry-level white, you know, I think of people who work at law firms, like first-year associates, there's a lot of document review. It's very repetitive, but every example is different. That's something that AI is quite good at," Amodei said.
Geoffrey Hinton, regarded by many as the 'godfather of AI', has also stated that the rise of technology will make companies more profitable than ever, but it may come at the cost of workers losing their jobs, with unemployment expected to rise to catastrophic levels.
