- Generative AI is a major focus for top consulting firms like McKinsey & Company.
- McKinsey's AI division, QuantumBlack, employs 2,000 data scientists and has five research and development centers around the world.
- McKinsey's revenue reaches $16 billion in 2023 driven by generative AI and strategic partnerships.
Generative AI has become a major topic of conversation at some of the world’s leading consulting firms.
“AI is going to be a big part of what we do, and we think it will be most of what we do in the future,” Ben Erenquig, a senior partner at McKinsey & Co., told Business Insider. “How do you actually incorporate AI and AI thinking into the way you do business?”
Ellen Quig heads McKinsey's AI division, Quantum Black, which he founded in 2015. Today, Quantum Black has around 2,000 data scientists, more than 4% of its 45,000 employees, and five research and development centers around the world in India, Brazil, the UK, the US and Israel.
The launch of ChatGPT marked a turning point for McKinsey's work on generative AI. “Right now, about 40 percent of the work we do is analytics-related, AI-related, and a lot of that is moving to Gen AI,” said Ellenquig, who added that McKinsey has worked on about 400 generative AI projects in the past six months.
Despite the overall consulting industry downturn, McKinsey has seen record revenues of $16 billion in 2023, driven by the promise of generative AI. Last year, clients were busy experimenting with new technologies, but this year they're focused on building a larger ecosystem for them to thrive. But the technology itself is only part of the story, says Ellen Quig. “We need to think about change management. We need to talk about safe AI and responsible AI. We need to think about, 'How do we change the workflow in our business?'”
Last June, the company also announced a partnership with Cohere, an AI startup focused on building AI models for enterprises. And it was a win for both parties: McKinsey's efforts will help the startup “build trust” among more organizations, Cohere founder and CEO Aidan Gomez told Business Insider. McKinsey benefits from Cohere's commitment to innovation and responsible development.
It's unclear how the world will change as AI advances so rapidly, but the company claims the technology will become ubiquitous. “Gen AI will be part of every product,” Ellenquig says. “It will go far beyond being a smart bot that helps you navigate websites and products; it will be integrated into every aspect of your life.”
