Question 1

Which consulting firm has the most AI partnerships?

Accepted Answer

Accenture leads with 60 tracked AI relationships (25% of the map), followed by Deloitte (37) and KPMG (27). Source: Global AI Ecosystem, September 2026 Strategy Update, Mantu.

Question 2

What is the most valuable AI lab in 2026?

Accepted Answer

Anthropic, at $965B post-money after its $65B Series H, the most valuable private company in history at raise, with revenue run-rate over $47B. OpenAI follows at $852B.

Question 3

Which AI vendors work with the most consulting firms?

Accepted Answer

Microsoft partners with all 9 tracked firms; AWS and Google Cloud with 8 each; Anthropic, OpenAI and Salesforce with 7 each: the hyperscalers are nobody’s moat.

Question 4

Which AI companies has Accenture acquired?

Accepted Answer

Faculty (~$1B), Ookla ($1.2B), a majority stake in Dragos, runZero, NetRise, Halfspace, Udacity, NeuraFlash, Decho and Ammagamma, plus lead investments in Lyzr and Snorkel AI.

Question 5

Is McKinsey cutting staff because of AI?

Accepted Answer

Yes: 3,000 to 4,000 non-client-facing roles (~10%, from 45K to ~40K) over 18–24 months as generative AI absorbs junior research and synthesis (Quartz, Bloomberg).

Question 6

When does the EU AI Act take effect?

Accepted Answer

In stages. Article 50 transparency duties (disclosing AI interactions, machine-labelling AI content) apply from August 2, 2026. Under the Digital Omnibus agreed in May 2026, high-risk obligations, including HR and recruitment AI (Annex III), were deferred to December 2, 2027, and AI embedded in regulated products (Annex I) to August 2, 2028.