The consulting business is no small part of the economy. Business consultants make billions of dollars each year and provide more than 10 times that in value to the economy, insurance consultants are vital for both private persons and companies, and shopping consultants are almost necessary for any large shopping mall. All combined, it makes consultants one of the key workers in modern service economies.
But, something unexpected is happening in recent years. AI algorithms are quickly making inroads and replacing various business, insurance, and sales consultants all over the economy. What’s this about? Do AI algorithms have the ability to completely replace consultants in the near or medium-term future? What does all of this mean to you as a consultant?
What are the Things that AI is Able to do Better Than Regular Consultants?
It is no secret that consultants have to have multidisciplinary skills in various sectors to be able to do their job correctly. For example, business consultants not only do they have to have very accurate knowledge of the inner workings of the sector, but they also have to have a decent grasp on the economics and financial aspects of running a successful business if they really want to become successful consultants. Insurance consultants not only have to be very familiar with the healthcare sector, but they also need to be able to know how to compare premiums, check health outcomes, and predict the demand for various health services.
Do you see a common trend in these jobs? That’s right. Most consulting jobs rely on a healthy amount of research and data analysis. Almost no consultant can survive without being deeply familiar with stats and data analysis.
How does this relate to artificial intelligence? Well, if you have kept up with the news at all over the last decade, you’ll know that there’s something else that is really capable of fast, accurate, and professional data analysis. Something that can help create charts on the fly, clean up data and sort it in seconds, and sift through terabytes of data in minutes. That’s right, AI algorithms can do all that. And their ability with data is already making one of the hardest jobs in consulting redundant and automized: data collection and analysis.
Does this mean that AI will Completely Replace Consultants?
Well, this is far more complex a question than it first appears. Because, most of the time, job automation isn’t as easy as it first appears, and nobody can predict what type of new jobs will appear out of the ashes. It isn’t as straightforward as electricity lamps replacing candles almost entirely in a generation.
Think back to how we described the job of consultants! Data collection and analysis while being a vital part of the job of almost any consultant, isn’t the end-all-be-all of consulting, and the job description of almost any consultant includes much more: clear communication with the clients, sorting of priorities, putting things into perspective, and even asking the right questions. AI algorithms can’t do any of these things to a reasonable degree right now, and they probably won’t in the next fifty years.
So, the complete replacement of consultants with AI is far from a reality, but a small displacement might be likely. You don’t need large consultant teams to do thorough analysis anymore, you can automate most of the time-consuming tasks. Furthermore, this could cause a shift in consulting jobs with more tech-savvy skills being in demand. One thing is for sure, anyone wanting to build consulting firms needs to check AI agencies like logicai.io/.
Teresa Garlick