Some companies seem to have integrated AI so deeply into their operations that they now refer to their human and non-human workforce.
McKinsey Global Managing Partner Bob Sternfels recently shared a striking perspective on how the consulting giant is transforming itself through artificial intelligence. When asked about the firm’s headcount, his answer reveals just how rapidly AI agents have become core to McKinsey’s operations—and offers a glimpse into what enterprise transformation might look like for other companies.
“I do think we’re going to be in this period where enterprises are fundamentally changing themselves. Yes, enormous potential, it’s going to take a little while to get there,” Sternfels said on the Harvard Business Review podcast. “So then you say, ‘Okay, what does that mean for McKinsey?’ We’re applying this to ourselves.”
“I often get asked, ‘How big is McKinsey? How many people do you employ?’ I now update this almost every month, but my latest answer to you would be 60,000, but it’s 40,000 humans and 20,000 agents,” he explained.
The pace of this transformation has surprised even McKinsey’s leadership. “Little over a year and a half ago, that was 3,000 agents and I originally thought it was going to take us to 2030 to get to one agent per human. I think we’re going to be there in 18 months and we’ll have every employee enabled by at least one or more agents. That’s one piece of what are the assets and technologies that we’re building in ourselves.”
But the changes go beyond just deploying AI tools. Sternfels outlined a fundamental shift in McKinsey’s business model: “The other big piece is how does it change our model. We’re coming around to the conviction that we’re migrating pretty quickly away from, let’s call it pure advisory work, which was a lot of the origins of our firm and a fee-for-service model. And what’s it moving to? It’s moving to much more of an outcomes-based model where we say, ‘Look, let’s identify a joint business case together and we will underwrite the outcomes of that business case.’ And it aligns our interests with our clients a lot more and I think will be the way of the future.”
The implications of McKinsey’s transformation are significant for the broader business world. The firm has been aggressive in its AI adoption—it built an internal AI chatbot named Lilli that is used by 70% of employees. However, this rapid integration hasn’t come without costs. McKinsey eliminated 200 tech jobs in November 2024 as part of its AI push, and earlier offered employees nine months’ salary in return for leaving the firm in April 2024. Sternfels’s vision of one agent per human employee—achieved years ahead of his initial projections—suggests that the consulting industry, and perhaps professional services more broadly, is entering a period of profound restructuring. The shift from billable hours to outcomes-based models, enabled by AI that can dramatically increase productivity, could reshape how consulting firms operate and compete. For enterprises watching McKinsey’s transformation, the message is clear: AI integration isn’t just about adding tools to existing workflows—it’s about reimagining the workforce, the business model, and the very nature of how value is delivered.