Ex-consultant exposes the AI consulting con: $1M pilots designed to die and kickback-driven tool picks
alex_verem · x · 2026-09-15
A former consultant from one of the "big three" firms published a long rant exposing how real companies get fleeced by AI consultants who have never shipped a line of production code — "You didn't fail at AI. You got robbed."
- Firms sell you a pilot they already know will die in a conference room
- "Learning your business" means three juniors googling your industry at partner rates
- Recommended tools are chosen for kickbacks, not effectiveness; the real goal is staying and draining your budget
- They slap a logo on someone else's model, call it a proprietary platform, and blame the model — never the engagement — when it fails
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