Talent escapes algorithms. Powered by them, it multiplies.

Two received ideas clash whenever artificial intelligence and consulting come up. The first: AI will replace consultants. The second: AI is just another gadget. In the field, neither holds. What we see, engagement after engagement, fits in one sentence: talent escapes algorithms, but talent powered by algorithms multiplies what it can do for its clients.

What algorithms do not see

An algorithm recognises patterns in data. Talent sees what is not in the data: what a director will never say in a committee meeting, the tension between two teams that will derail a project, the moment to push and the moment to wait. Understanding an organisation, reading its balance of power, sensing what is truly possible: none of this can be computed.

Nor can algorithms spot talent itself. A filter that sorts careers by keywords and school names misses the most valuable profiles: people who have changed sector, country or profession, and learned each time. That is precisely what the market struggles to read, and what we look for.

Finally, an algorithm answers for nothing. A recommendation commits the person who signs it. That responsibility is, and will remain, human.

What AI changes, in very concrete terms

The first change is about time. A large share of consulting work is time-consuming without being decisive: synthesising dozens of interviews, preparing a benchmark, writing a first draft, cleaning data, tidying up meeting notes. Used well, AI sharply reduces these tasks. The time saved does not vanish. It goes back to the field: more interviews, more time with the teams, more iterations before concluding.

The second change concerns the speed of learning. A consultant arriving in a new sector picks up its vocabulary, regulation and market structure in days rather than weeks. Versatile profiles, already used to carrying what they know from one world to another, benefit the most.

The third change widens the range of what is possible. A single consultant can now build a prototype, test an idea, put together a working demonstration, which used to take a team and several weeks. A business platform can be designed with AI, then rolled out and adopted by the teams who use it.

A multiplier, not a substitute

AI multiplies what already exists. Multiply experience, judgement and rigour, and the results are remarkable; multiply approximation, and you get errors faster and at a larger scale. That is why we first select experienced profiles, then expect them to master AI: doubly augmented consultants.

AI does not replace judgement: it gives it more time, more material and more reach.

This demands discipline. Everything AI produces is checked, sourced and tested before it is presented. AI suggests; the consultant decides, and signs.

What this changes for our clients

For the same engagement, more capacity: fewer days spent on mechanical tasks, more on decisions and their implementation. New opportunities, too: what used to cost too much to try (a prototype, a test site, a proof of concept) is now within reach, including for smaller companies. And better-prepared adoption, because a consultant who masters these tools also knows how to train teams in them, so that no one is left behind.

Talent escapes algorithms. That is precisely why it must learn to use them.