AI continues eating junior entry roles as McKinsey lets AI do the grunt work
It increasingly looks like AI is affecting the hiring and retention of junior staff including apprentices as companies automate lower level jobs and tasks, and that's problematic.
Key takeaways
- Kate Smaje, McKinsey's global leader of technology and AI, told Bloomberg on Monday that McKinsey employees are increasingly tapping into Lilli, the internal AI platform the firm launched in 2023.
- Over 75% of McKinsey's 43,000 employees are now using Lilli monthly, Smaje disclosed.
- Lilli was named after Lillian Dombrowski, the first woman hired by McKinsey in 1945.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2025) 'AI continues eating junior entry roles as McKinsey lets AI do the grunt work', 311 Institute, 26 July. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/ai-continues-eating-junior-entry-roles-as-mckinsey-lets-ai-do-the-grunt-work/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
McKinsey consultants are using the firm's proprietary Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform to take over tasks that have traditionally been handled by junior employees. Kate Smaje, McKinsey's global leader of technology and AI, told Bloomberg on Monday that McKinsey employees are increasingly tapping into Lilli, the internal AI platform the firm launched in 2023. While employees are permitted to use ChatGPT internally, Lilli is the only platform that allows them to input confidential client data safely.
Over 75% of McKinsey's 43,000 employees are now using Lilli monthly, Smaje disclosed. Lilli was named after Lillian Dombrowski, the first woman hired by McKinsey in 1945.
Through Lilli, McKinsey consultants can create a PowerPoint slideshow through a prompt and modify the tone of the presentation with a tool called "Tone of Voice" to ensure that the text aligns with the firm's writing style. They can also draft proposals for client projects while maintaining the firm's standards, find internal subject matter experts, and research industry trends.
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Lilli has advanced enough to take over tasks typically assigned to junior employees, but Smaje says that doesn't mean McKinsey is going to hire fewer junior analysts.
"Do we need armies of business analysts creating PowerPoints? No, the technology could do that," Smaje told Bloomberg. "It's not necessarily that I'm going to have fewer of them [analysts], but they're going to be doing the things that are more valuable to our clients."
McKinsey told Business Insider that Lilli was trained on the firm's entire intellectual property, encompassing over 100,000 documents and interviews across the firm's nearly 100-year history. McKinsey employees who use Lilli turn to it 17 times per week on average, a McKinsey senior partner told BI.
A case study published on McKinsey's website shows that Lilli answers over half a million prompts every month, saving workers 30% of the time they would have spent on gathering and synthesizing information.
Consulting firms have been tapping into AI for years. Bain consultants have access to Sage, an AI chatbot powered by OpenAI. At Boston Consulting Group, employees use an AI tool called Deckster to fine-tune their PowerPoint presentations.
Meanwhile, at other companies, AI is taking over tasks once completed by human workers. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said last month that the company replaced hundreds of human resources staff with AI, then used the freed-up resources to hire more programmers and salespeople.
A report from SignalFire, a venture capital firm that tracks over 650 million employees on LinkedIn, found that new graduates accounted for just 7% of new hires in 2024 at big tech companies, down 25% from 2023, as AI takes over entry-level tasks.
FAQ
Why does this matter?
It increasingly looks like AI is affecting the hiring and retention of junior staff including apprentices as companies automate lower level jobs and tasks, and that's problematic.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Sources and further reading
- Mckinsey leans on ai to make powerpoints faster draft proposals bloomberg.com
- Meet our people mckinsey.com
- Consulting ai mckinsey bcg deloitte pwc kpmg chatbots ai tools 2025 4 businessinsider.com
- Rewiring the way mckinsey works with lilli mckinsey.com
- Signalfire state of talent report 2025 signalfire.com
- SignalFire signalfire.com
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 26 July 2025. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2025). AI continues eating junior entry roles as McKinsey lets AI do the grunt work. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/ai-continues-eating-junior-entry-roles-as-mckinsey-lets-ai-do-the-grunt-work/
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