AI is not flattening the consulting workforce. It’s polarizing it. The distribution that used to resemble a bell curve is now reshaping into a barbell: strength at the top, strength at the bottom, collapse in between.
This isn’t a temporary fluctuation. It’s a structural transformation driven by economics, capability shifts, and the new architecture of AI-enabled work.
1. Thriving at the Top: Deep Expertise and Relationship Capital
The top of the distribution grows more valuable, not less. AI amplifies senior talent — it doesn’t replace it.
Who thrives here:
partners with durable client relationships
specialists with rare or deep domain expertise
strategic problem solvers
people who orchestrate AI, not compete with it
These roles become leverage multipliers for AI systems. Judgment, integration, and trust remain stubbornly human skills.
2. Thriving at the Bottom: AI-Native Operators and Technical Builders
Simultaneously, a new bottom layer expands — not junior analysts, but AI-native operators. They are the ones who turn models into workflows and outputs.
Who thrives here:
AI workflow operators
technical infrastructure builders
human–AI hybrid coordinators
prompt engineers + curators
This bottom layer is high productivity, low cost, and high adaptability. It replaces the traditional analyst class with a far more efficient capability.
3. Squeezed in the Middle: The Roles AI Makes Obsolete
The middle is not just stressed — it is being structurally erased. These are the people whose work AI directly competes with.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
