Should You Hire An AI Consultant? Here's When It's the Right Move, and When It's Not. No one wants to get left behind, and there's a growing industry of AI consultants who want to help. But is it worth the investment?

As generative AI rose in prominence this year, Jayesh Gadewar had a thought: We can use this to leapfrog our competitors. He's the cofounder of Scrut Automation, a startup that builds compliance and security software for businesses, but as far as AI, they just didn't have the expertise.

So he did what many other leaders are now doing: He hired an AI consultant.

"Generative AI is funny in that the basic capabilities you get for your $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus are pretty impressive," says Tom Davenport, professor of information technology and management at Babson College and a senior advisor at Deloitte's AI practice, "but to customize it is technically challenging." That's why, since OpenAI's chart-topping chatbot landed a year ago, a new breed of specialist has risen to help companies harness AI's game-changing wizardry.