Is AI changing consulting forever?

If AI knows everything consultants used to sell, what are clients actually paying for? It starts with a $440,000 mistake: a 237-page government report with fake citations and invented quotes.

Deloitte was caught with AI hallucinations in a high-stakes public document, twice, in two countries. Dinko and Nikhil argue this isn't just one firm messing up but the first real existential crisis in consulting, and unpack how AI is eating the consulting value stack, from data collection and analysis to benchmarks and frameworks.

• Know what AI has already commoditized: Knowledge is now basically free, strategy frameworks live inside a $20/month chatbot, and research, analysis and slides are automated in seconds.
• See how the pyramid is changing: Junior consultants are being replaced first, and the consulting pyramid is shrinking into a slim 'Washington Monument'.
• Invest in what survives: Judgment, accountability, trust and relationships, and implementation and change management.
• Treat AI fluency as the bare minimum: Why it's now mandatory for consultants, and why vanity AI metrics mean nothing.
• Buy (and sell) consulting differently: Why consulting may shift from hourly billing to AI-powered packages.

Dinko and Nikhil also look at how McKinsey, Bain and BCG are responding, the irony of firms selling AI transformation while AI disrupts their own business model, the three future roles in consulting, and whether prices should drop or rise if 80% of the work is automated. The takeaway: knowledge arbitrage is dying, and the consultant of 2030 will look nothing like the consultant of 2020.