Consulting's race to become AI native

Getty Images; Rebecca Zisser/BI It's a question as old as the industry itself: What does a consultant actually do? Traditionally, consultants have acted as an external support system, called in to crunch the numbers, trim head count, or identify growth opportunities.

Now, AI is reshaping what clients want from consultants and how work gets done, creating a new job profile that blurs the lines between tech and consulting.

Instead of generalist teams producing research and strategy decks, consultants are increasingly expected to provide something tangible: tools, systems, and holistic, ongoing support.

The big firms aren't only advising on tech strategy, they're building and implementing it, often through multi-year transformation projects.

To win that work, consulting firms are racing to position themselves as "AI-native." "The more they're perceived to be a technology firm, the more likely they are to win business," Fiona Czerniawska, CEO of Source Global, a consulting sector intelligence firm, told Business Insider.

But the transformation raises a key question: Are these companies fundamentally changing what they do, or merely how they describe themselves? The race to become AI-native Looking back at the top firms' actions and rhetoric over the past year makes clear just how central AI has become to the consulting business.

"There is no doubt that our firm is a tech company that delivers now on audit, tax, and advisory services," Tim Walsh, CEO of KPMG US, told Business Insider's Dan DeFrancesco at the World Economic Forum in January.

For the fourth-largest professional services firm in the US, with roots reaching back to 1897, Walsh's statement was striking.

A decade ago, KPMG would have described itself as a time-and-materials business with "smart people doing smart things," Rob Fisher, vice chairman of advisory at KPMG, said about Walsh's comments.

Rob Fisher, global head of advisory and vice chair of KPMG US.

KPMG Now, the firm is embedding AI across its traditional offerings, while responding to growing client demand for subscription-style products, alongside advice and managed services, said Fisher.

"We have to become more of a technology organization because clients want to consume our expertise that way," Fisher said.

KPMG isn't an outlier.

PwC has rewritten its training agenda around 30 core skills: 15 AI-centric and 15 human-centric , both of which are "extremely critical" to its success, Yolanda Seals-Coffield, chief people and inclusion officer for PwC US, told Business Insider in February.