AI in professional services, human-AI-things relationships, mapping intelligence, and more...

📖In this issue

• Framework: Mapping intelligence

• Humans + AI update: Corporates are dropping AI consultants, the changing structure of consulting firms, McKinsey is hiring more entry-level workers.

• From Humans + AI Explorers Community: AI in learning & education, the philosophy of AI, system prompts, and more.

• Humans + AI Podcast: Iskander Smit on human-AI-things relationships, designing for interruptions and intentions, and streams of consciousness in AI

💡Framework: Mapping Intelligence

“Artificial Intelligence” implies that there is something that humans manifest that ,machines can emulate. However we have no clear, agreed definitions of intelligence, and those ideas are evolving as AI progresses. This map looks at a range of the most prominent definitions of intelligence and maps them across six dimensions. For if we are to talk about artificial intelligence, we first need to be clear on what we mean by intelligence.

🧠🤖Humans + AI

Corporates are dropping AI consultants for in-house

"In a two-way information exchange, AI is fed an organization’s domain-specific knowledge and humans access AI-generated learning resources based on that knowledge. AI systems learn from human inputs, improving over time, while humans gain insights from AI-generated data.”

How the AI Boom is Leaving Consultants Behind (paywall)
Highlights and commentary

Changing the structure of consulting firms

In a Humans + AI world the classic professional pyramid business model is being replaced by new structures and capability sets. A new article in Harvard Business Review provides a solid framing of the shifts, describing it as the shift from pyramid to obelisk.

AI is Changing the Structure of Consulting Firms
Summary and key insights

McKinsey is hiring more entry-level professionals

“For 2026, McKinsey plans to hire 12% more people in North America than in 2025, he said. [North America chair] Kutcher said he expects the company will continue to increase the number of entry-level workers it hires. One reason young workers are often attractive, Kutcher said, is that many of them are more proficient with technology like AI because they've grown up with it.”

McKinsey is doubling down on entry-level jobs - even in the AI era
Highlights and commentary

🌐From Humans + AI Explorers Community

Selected highlights from Humans + AI Explorers Community (content for members, free membership options).

We have just launched our AI in Professional Services space! This will be where we explore together how AI is transformed consulting and professional services, and how to seize the emerging opportunities.

Plenty of interest and engagement in the new AI in Learning & Education space and a lot more to come soon.

A very interesting ‘AI Position Quiz Tool’ is being developed by Dan Bashaw and getting some great feedback before release beyond the community.

A very deep and engaging discussion on The Philosophy of AI and Responsibility in Its Use kicked off by Dennis Draeger, including an argument map.

A nice example of a System prompt to create more measured and analytical responses with other examples shared.

And far more!

🎙️This week’s podcast episode

Why you should listen

Iskander Smit comes from a deep design background, informing fascinating ideas on not just the evolving relationships between humans and AI, but the role of things and cities in these larger systems.