By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant. Updated October 2026. Can AI do consulting work? Not yet, at least not the whole job. The most rigorous test to date, Mercor’s 2026 APEX-Agents benchmark, dropped leading AI models into realistic consulting tasks and found that the best of them finished fewer than 25% correctly on the…
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By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant. Updated September 2026. Will AI replace junior consultants? No, not the role, but yes, much of the old entry-level task list. AI handles the research, data work, and slide drafting that once filled a junior’s first year and built their judgment. Firms still hire juniors, but they expect…
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Updated October 2026 · By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant The McKinsey AI interview now comes in two in-room formats. The first is a live session where you work through a case task with Lilli, McKinsey’s internal AI, which the firm has piloted in some final rounds since January 2026. The second is new this…
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By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant. Updated October 2026. The impact of AI on consulting is the shift from a people-heavy pyramid, where large cohorts of junior analysts do research, modeling, and slides, toward leaner, AI-augmented teams. AI now handles much of that entry-level production work, which raises the bar on judgment, client skills,…
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Florian spent five years at McKinsey as a Senior Consultant and is a highly experienced consulting interviewer and problem-solving coach. Having conducted interviews with hundreds of candidates, he understands exactly what top-tier firms look for in successful applicants.
He founded StrategyCase.com to make top consulting careers more accessible by providing tailored, up-to-date insights into the recruiting process. Recognized as the most successful case and fit interview coach, Florian has helped his clients secure 700+ offers at MBB, Tier-2 firms, Big 4 consulting divisions, in-house consultancies, and boutique firms over the past four years.
He is the author of “The 1%: Conquer Your Consulting Case Interview,” “The 1%: Case Interview Workbook,” and “Consulting Career Secrets”, all available on Amazon.
