While employees have access to the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, they can only input confidential client data into Lilli, the proprietary platform aggregating McKinsey’s knowledge base, according to Kate Smaje, the company’s global leader of technology and AI.

Through Lilli’s AI agents, McKinsey employees can now create PowerPoint slides from simple prompts and ensure reports have the right tone through a tool dubbed “Tone of Voice.” 

Lilli — named for Lillian Dombrowski, the first professional woman hired by McKinsey in 1945 — has developed enough since its 2023 launch for Smaje to view it as a member in each team of associates. Over 75% of the firm’s employees use the tool on a monthly ongoing basis.

“Do we need armies of business analysts creating PowerPoints? No, the technology could do that. Is that a bad thing? No, that’s a great thing,” Smaje said. “It’s not necessarily that I’m going to have fewer of them, but they’re going to be doing the things that are more valuable to our clients.”

McKinsey now employs about 40,000 staff globally, a spokesperson said. That’s down from a figure of more than 45,000 at the end of 2023.

Other consultancies are riding the technology wave, too, both through internal tools and AI-focused consulting. Many are reshaping how they operate and the services they offer.

Bain & Co.’s consultants use Sage, a proprietary chat platform powered by OpenAI, and PWC’s Strategy& unit relies on Microsoft Copilot. At Boston Consulting Group, AI-related advisory services now comprise a fifth of overall revenue and the firm expects that to grow significantly.

Beyond its AI arm QuantumBlack, McKinsey has an enterprise AI ecosystem including the likes of Anthropic, Cohere, and Mistral AI.

Newer firms are also looking to enter the fray, including Xavier AI and Perceptis AI that were both co-founded by former McKinsey employees.