Ex-McKinsey Consultants Are Training AI Models to Replace Them

The consulting sector has been buffeted by headwinds in key markets from the UK and China to Saudi Arabia and Australia in recent years. But its latest challenge might come from within.

Close to 150 ex-consultants from firms including McKinsey & Co., Bain & Co. and Boston Consulting Groupwere recently contracted by a third party to train artificial intelligence models on how to do the industry’s entry-level tasks, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News.

The project is code-named Argentum, the documents show. It’s being run by the same data-labeling startup that helped contract over a hundred ex-investment ...