‘Shark Tank’ investor Kevin O’Leary says the companies he backs are skipping consultants and going straight to AI
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‘Shark Tank’ investor Kevin O’Leary believes artificial intelligence can replace the job of advisors.
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He said the companies he supports are already using artificial intelligence instead of going to consulting firms.
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The change “has only happened in the last 24 months,” he said.
Kevin O’Leary He thinks the consultants’ days are numbered.
The ‘Shark Tank’ investor who’s busy launching a hyperscale AI these days data center in UtahHe said the companies he supports are already turning to AI for work they once outsourced to consulting firms.
“Even the companies I invest in were using a lot of advisors for very specific verticals, like changing retail distribution or do they need to keep two tiers of distribution instead of three, they’re going to AI first, which they can do much more cheaply,” O’Leary said on a recent episode of “The Founder’s Mindset Podcast.”
He said these companies are asking their internal management teams to test these ideas, eliminating the need for traditional consultants altogether.
“This has only happened in the last 24 months,” he said, noting how quickly he’s seen change happen.
In the past few years, consulting firms competed Reinventing themselves as artificial intelligence advances rapidly; developing its own internal tools and routing them to customers, hiring armies of forward-deployed engineers, and Proximity to AI startups Throughout Silicon Valley.
While AI poses a threat to consulting, many of the largest firms also see significant opportunities in it.
McKinsey says about 40% of its work now comes from AI-related projects. BCG said 20% of its work in 2024 is related to artificial intelligence. Last year, Accenture, which announced earnings this week, consolidated its strategy, consulting, song, technology and operations services into a single unit organized around artificial intelligence, called “reinvention services.”
These companies bill customers to help them use technology from Silicon Valley and adopt it themselves.
Even if consulting firms survive the AI revolution, O’Leary said consulting is a career path that always has a ceiling. He said that working in the sector for a short period of time is especially valuable for young professionals trying to find a place in the labor market. But a longer period is a red flag, he said.
“One of the things you could argue consulting is good for is if you spend less than two years there and research all 11 sectors of the economy to find out where you fit, that makes sense to me,” he said.
