McKinsey & Company is undergoing a dramatic transformation, deploying approximately 25,000 AI agents alongside its 40,000 human employees to create a hybrid workforce of 60,000. This massive expansion has occurred in under two years, with CEO Bob Sternfels revealing that just 18 months ago, the firm only used a few thousand agents.
Speaking on Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast and at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Sternfels outlined McKinsey’s ambitious vision: within the next year and a half, every employee will be “enabled by at least one or more agents.” These AI agents function as autonomous virtual assistants that can complete tasks independently, breaking down problems, outlining plans, and taking action without constant human prompting.
The transformation extends beyond workforce composition. QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s 1,700-person AI division, now drives initiatives that account for 40% of the firm’s total work, according to Alex Singla, a senior partner who co-leads the unit. This represents a fundamental shift in how the consulting giant operates and delivers value to clients.
McKinsey’s business model is also evolving. The firm is moving away from traditional advisory work and classic fee-for-service arrangements toward a more collaborative approach. Instead, McKinsey now works with clients to identify joint business cases and helps underwrite the outcomes of those cases, creating a more partnership-oriented model.
The talent strategy is changing as well. Singla told Business Insider that McKinsey seeks candidates who can bridge traditional consulting and engineering mindsets, working effectively alongside AI. “What we want to be able to do is find those people that actually have a propensity to either be this great McKinsey consultant, and/or a great technologist, and then groom them to be both,” he explained.
This transformation reflects a broader industry trend among elite consulting firms. Competitors like Boston Consulting Group and PwC are similarly pivoting from traditional slide decks and advisory work to multi-year AI-driven transformation projects. BCG has even created a team of “forward-deployed consultants” who are “vibe-coding” and building AI tools directly for client projects, demonstrating how deeply AI is being integrated into consulting workflows.
Key Quotes
According to his latest tally, the firm now has a workforce of 60,000, which he said is made up of 40,000 humans and 20,000 agents.
McKinsey CEO Bob Sternfels revealed this striking workforce composition on Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast, illustrating how rapidly the firm has integrated AI agents into its operations. The figure was later updated to 25,000 agents at CES, showing the pace of deployment continues to accelerate.
Just a year and a half ago, the company only used a few thousand agents and hopes that in the next year and a half, every employee will be ’enabled by at least one or more agents.'
This quote from Sternfels demonstrates the exponential growth trajectory of AI adoption at McKinsey, with plans to ensure universal agent access across the entire human workforce within 18 months, fundamentally changing how every consultant works.
What we want to be able to do is find those people that actually have a propensity to either be this great McKinsey consultant, and/or a great technologist, and then groom them to be both.
Alex Singla, senior partner and co-leader of QuantumBlack, explained McKinsey’s evolving talent strategy to Business Insider. This reflects how AI is reshaping job requirements even at elite firms, demanding hybrid skills that combine traditional consulting expertise with technical capabilities.
Our Take
McKinsey’s transformation offers a preview of how AI will reshape professional services and knowledge work more broadly. The 25,000 agents deployed in under two years isn’t just impressive—it’s a strategic imperative. As AI capabilities improve, firms that don’t adopt similar approaches risk becoming uncompetitive on both cost and capability dimensions. What’s particularly notable is the shift from fee-for-service to outcome-based partnerships, suggesting AI gives McKinsey enough confidence in results to share financial risk. The emphasis on hybrid consultant-technologist talent signals that the future belongs to professionals who can orchestrate AI rather than compete against it. However, questions remain about what this means for career progression, billable hours, and the thousands of junior consultants who traditionally cut their teeth on tasks that AI agents may now handle autonomously.
Why This Matters
McKinsey’s deployment of 25,000 AI agents represents one of the most aggressive enterprise AI adoption strategies publicly disclosed to date, signaling a fundamental shift in how professional services firms operate. This matters because McKinsey is often a bellwether for business trends—what the firm does today, thousands of companies attempt tomorrow.
The implications are profound for the future of knowledge work. If a prestigious consulting firm can augment 40,000 humans with 25,000 AI agents, similar ratios could eventually apply across industries from finance to healthcare to legal services. This raises critical questions about workforce composition, productivity gains, and employment dynamics in white-collar sectors.
For businesses, McKinsey’s shift from advisory to outcome-based partnerships suggests AI is enabling new business models where consultants share more risk and reward with clients. The 40% of work now AI-driven demonstrates that generative AI has moved beyond experimentation to become core to operations. As competing firms like BCG and PwC follow similar paths, companies seeking consulting services will increasingly expect AI-powered solutions, accelerating adoption across the economy.