Management Consulting in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally reshaping management consulting, creating both unprecedented opportunities and existential challenges for the industry. This course equips students to thrive in this transformation by understanding how AI is revolutionizing consulting practices, client relationships, and career paths. To understand this transformation, the course provides an in-depth overview of the management consulting industry, covering its structure, conduct, and performance; firms and their competitive strategies; and the ideas, tools, and frameworks these firms deploy. Students master essential skills for human-AI collaboration—while developing problem-solving, communication, interviewing, and client relation capabilities that remain uniquely human and irreplaceable. This case study-based course emphasizes hands-on skills practice and real-time feedback through simulated consulting engagements. Students use AI tools—for homework assignments, in-class exercises, and the final group project—to explore how leading firms are adapting their models, which consulting functions face automation, and where new opportunities emerge. The final group project simulates part of a consulting engagement, demonstrating each student's ability to navigate this evolving landscape. This course welcomes students considering consulting careers, in-house strategy roles, or client-side positions working with consultants. By course completion, students should understand which consulting skills to develop, how to position themselves in an AI-augmented industry, and how to evaluate and work effectively with modern consulting firms.