Businesses rely on consultants to get their expert advice in business operations. Now, along with the consultant service, many firms, including BCG, will provide generative AI assistance, too.
Last week, Anthropic announced its partnership with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to bring its AI models, including its Claude 2 assistant, to BCG customers.
Also: 4 things Claude AI can do that ChatGPT can’t
Through the partnership, BCG will help inform its customers about the best ways to strategically apply AI and also help them deploy the Anthropic models in a way that is conducive to delivering business results.
Some of the use cases for the businesses include “knowledge management, market research, fraud detection, demand forecasting, report generation, business analysis, and more,” according to the release.
Throughout the release, there was a big emphasis on the ethical and responsible use of AI, likely in efforts to address concerns about AI replacing human work and also compromising the security of company data.
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“Our new collaboration with Anthropic will help deliver that alignment on ethics and effective GenAI,” says Sylvain Duranton, global leader of BCG X. “Together, we aim to set a new standard for responsible enterprise AI and promote a safety race to the top for AI to be deployed ethically.”
Last week, the consulting firm EY also announced a $1.4 billion investment into its own generative AI platform called EY.ai. This platform is also meant to help clients adopt AI to help them reach business goals.
BCG and EY join an already extensive list of consulting firms with AI projects underway, including KPMG, Accenture, and McKinsey.
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The timing of these AI investments is interesting since the major consultant firms have all undergone either layoffs, hiring freezes, or start date delays within the last year.
According to The Wall Street Journal, after undergoing a big hiring spree to meet increased pandemic demands, some of the Big Four consulting firms, including KPMG, Deloitte, and EY had to cut their personnel.
Another WSJ report highlights how recently hired “rookie” consultants don’t have enough work to do. As a result, they are being laid off, like in the case of KPMG and EY, or given delayed start dates, as seen by McKinsey and Bain, which have postponed start dates until 2024.
With the industry as a whole hurting post-pandemic, it is interesting to see that the companies are investing time and money into AI initiatives, and this can be seen as an attempt to leverage the popularity behind generative AI to attract and better help clients.
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