The State of AI in Consulting is Spaik's annual research on how artificial intelligence is changing the consulting industry: its competitors, its operating model, its economics, its tools, and its obligations. The 2026 edition draws on public disclosures, executive statements, regulatory texts and documented incidents from mid-2025 to mid-2026, and adds Spaik's own reading of what they mean for firms. The key findings are summarised below. Each one is developed in a full article on this site, and the complete report, with charts and sources, is a free PDF; the download is above.
Key findings: what changed in 2026
Six developments define the year. Each has its own full analysis, linked below.
- 01
New entrants
Strategy firms now face competition on three fronts at once: AI research labs, tech scale-ups such as Palantir, and lean AI-native startups. In several cases their own AI suppliers and partners are becoming rivals.
Read the full analysis - 02
Firm structure and the junior tier
AI is hitting hardest at the bottom of the pyramid. Three competing shapes, the diamond, the obelisk and the hourglass, are emerging to replace it, each thinning the junior base and rewarding technical and governance skills.
Read the full analysis - 03
Revenue, billing and pay
AI is taking a fast-growing share of firm revenue while pushing clients toward outcome-based fees, which weakens the billable-hours model.
Read the full analysis - 04
From chatbots to agents
The major firms have made agents standard equipment. The early payoff is measurable time saved, and the test is shifting from how many agents exist to how much value they create, with humans still accountable.
Read the full analysis - 05
Trust and verification
A firm's authority is what turns an AI hallucination into a public error that others cite. Verifying AI output for fabricated sources before publication is becoming essential to protect the trust firms sell.
Read the full analysis - 06
EU AI Act
Two sets of obligations are already in force and carry most of a consultancy's exposure. The biggest risks are weak AI literacy, accidentally adopting a banned tool, and unknowingly becoming the provider of a high-risk system. The UK has no AI-specific rule yet.
Read the full analysis
Go deeper
- Are AI labs becoming consulting firms?Chapter 1, expandedRead
- How AI is reshaping the consulting pyramidChapter 2, expandedRead
- How AI is changing consulting business models and pricingChapter 3, expandedRead
- AI agents in consulting: how McKinsey, BCG, Bain and others use themChapter 4, expandedRead
- AI hallucinations in consulting: why verification is becoming business-criticalChapter 5, expandedRead
- EU AI Act for consulting firms: what consultancies need to knowChapter 6, expandedRead
- Previous edition: The State of AI in Consulting 2025ArchiveRead
For consulting firms
Turning the findings into a plan for your firm
Spaik works with consultancies on the questions this report raises: where AI belongs in the engagement model, how to build verification and AI literacy into delivery, and how to train consultants to direct AI rather than compete with it.