Financial Times 2026-05-11-2
FT/Shrimsley: When the AI is consultant AND competitor — point-four bundle decomposition as the new advisory pricing test
FT running satire whose punchline is 'they'll realize they don't need us' is the disintermediation narrative going mainstream — the moment the comfortable class admits the problem out loud. The substance under the joke: advisory deliverables split into formulaic points 1-3, now AI-replicable in 25 minutes at house-style match, and judgment-laden point 4, which is what current retainers are actually priced against. Watch Q2 holding-co IR calls for the first explicit mention of AI substitution risk in retainer durability.