Insights

AI is killing the prestige consulting career as junior work shifts to bots

For decades, landing a role at McKinsey, Bain, or BCG was a guaranteed ticket to future business leadership, acting as an elite training ground. However, the rise of generative AI has fundamentally broken this value proposition, turning entry-level consulting roles into glorified fact-checking. Internal AI tools like McKinsey's Lilli, which answers over 500,000 queries monthly, Bain's Sage, and BCG's Deckster now handle the core analysis, slide creation, and financial modeling that junior staff used to learn from. This shift has disrupted the traditional apprenticeship model, leaving young grads with little opportunity to develop actual leadership skills. As exit options dry up, the consulting-to-startup pipeline is slowing down, with up to 300 analysts competing for the same five exit roles. While firm partners claim AI will let juniors do more valuable work, firms are simultaneously freezing salaries and cutting staff in a race to implement service-as-software business models.