Ryan Short | The future of consulting is human-led and AI-supported

As artificial intelligence moves from a theoretical disruption to a practical tool, its impact on knowledge industries is profound. 

Ryan Short, a managing partner at Genesis, is grappling with this shift firsthand. A global expert on sustainable economic development, Short's work with blue-chip businesses and governments across Africa focuses on the intersection of commercial growth and societal development. 

In this Q&A, he describes how AI is changing the strategy and operations of his team…

You recently attended a major industry summit on artificial intelligence. Beyond the general hype, what specific insight compelled you to re-evaluate your team's strategic direction?

Firstly, there’s no question that the absolute bare minimum is that we have to become AI natives with all manner of AI systems and tools. That’s not only research, but also visual communication, written communication and data analysis. Everything we do must now be cognitively empowered by AI. So that’s the necessary strategic shift.

The second change is that we must pivot further from being purely a research, insights and advisory firm to one that twins research with execution. Execution is an area AI can’t handle, and that has serious strategic implications for where we focus our growth.

Thirdly, I see a future model where strong subject matter experts, be they economists or other specialists, work directly with AI engineers to get the most out of the technology.

And a fourth strategic shift is a move from selling hours to selling proprietary AI products that we develop for clients. This is where cognitive tasks face downward pressure, presenting an opportunity to create new offerings.

In my team, we are already piloting this. One core service is economic modelling, where we use statistical models to predict economic movements. Technically, a client could ask an AI tool to do this, but I believe they will always want a subject matter expert ‘holding the pen,’ much like you would prefer a doctor using AI to an AI tool as your sole medical practitioner. 

How do you plan on cultivating irreplaceably human skills like strategy, ethics and innovation?

If you consider the classic advisory value chain, it begins with problem identification and breaking it down into an issue tree. This initial stage shouldn’t be done by an AI: It requires human nuance, understanding context and relational dynamics. We encourage our teams to lead with the phrase: ‘Human-led, AI-supported.’

The next stage, desktop research, will become increasingly AI-driven, but human-directed. Then comes deriving insights and making recommendations. AI can produce strong insights from data, but they are not as strong as a clever group of humans working together. AI is still very generic and poor at client-specific recommendations.

On ethics, while AI can be guided to make ethical choices, that guidance will always be a human function. 
On the point of  Western bias in AI - how can we ensure our use of AI promotes inclusion rather than exacerbating gaps?

If humans retain oversight, direction and decision-making, then it is a human bringing an ethical construct to the work. However, the models are undoubtedly Western-biased. We work extensively in the Global South, particularly in Africa, an area massively underrepresented in AI training data. This is actually a strength for us: AI cannot fully answer questions about these contexts because it is underinformed.
Our understanding of the continent and its vulnerable groups is precisely where our human value becomes critical. 

To mitigate bias, we rely on human oversight and are developing a code of ethical research, making it standard practice to apply responsibly to data. We also have internal forums where staff share examples of biases they encounter, building collective awareness. The essence is you cannot delegate your thinking and its ethical dimensions to AI.

Where do you see the single biggest opportunity for AI to drive growth and reduce costs in your sector over the next three years?

I am optimistic for humanity and the benefits AI can bring. For our sector, it is more complex. I don’t believe clients will hand over a research process 100% to an AI tooI, just as they wouldn’t hand over a medical diagnosis entirely to AI. They will want an expert to use the tool and then advise them.
The significant opportunity is that it makes execution and implementation more important than pure advisory. 

We are already well-positioned, with a practice that is roughly 50/50 across advisory and implementation. That makes us a more valuable partner in an AI-disrupted world. The upside is becoming a smarter, more efficient and more execution-oriented firm.