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The Financial Times recently featured an article about PricewaterhouseCoopers publishing reports on AI that were, ironically, marred by AI hallucinations. These thought leadership pieces, intended to advise clients on implementing AI, reportedly included unsupported claims, fabricated footnotes, and misattributed sources. It was an embarrassing reminder that even firms at the forefront of advising on AI are not immune to its risks.
This problem was discovered with an AI content detector. But these detectors are hardly perfect. Forbes highlighted a well-known example in which a content detector confidently concluded that the Declaration of Independence was 98.5% AI-generated.
These amusing anecdotes illustrate two points we already instinctively know about professional content produced by AI in 2026. First, it is everywhere. Second, we’re still not particularly good at identifying what is and isn’t AI-generated. If we accept that AI-generated materials are everywhere, and people for the most part can’t tell, why shouldn’t executive search firms lean into AI in everything they do?
Many firms are doing just that, and executive search is one of the professions being transformed most rapidly by artificial intelligence. Hyperbole abounds with promises of swifter processes and better candidate fields thanks to AI. And there is no denying the opportunities for efficiencies are extraordinary. AI can map sectors, identify potential candidates, summarise interviews, draft reports, automate workflows, and reduce administrative burdens. Every one of those applications has the potential to make consultants more productive and allow them to spend more time with clients and candidates.
So far, so good.
Executive search is not just about finding and assessing qualified candidates. It is a relational enterprise that is, by definition, grounded in humanity. We deal with people, all day, every day. And we do so at times when these people (considering a change of career) and organisations (looking for new leaders) are particularly vulnerable.
The best search consultants listen carefully to client needs. We notice what candidates choose not to say. We understand the dynamics inside businesses that do not appear on organisational charts. We recognise patterns across appointments while knowing every search is unique. We persuade candidates to consider roles that would not be an obvious next step. And we encourage clients to consider candidates who look unconventional on paper because of qualities that cannot be captured in a CV or an algorithm.
This is particularly acute for newer consultants. Search consultants of the past learned their craft through extensive briefings, painstaking research, endless interviewing, and writing countless assessments. That repetition built judgement muscles. New consultants have too many temptations to skip the judgement gym and go straight to the judgement pageant.
Clients hire search consultants whose opinions they trust. They expect original thinking, uncomfortable truths, and recommendations grounded in experience rather than probability. If every deliverable begins to sound as though it came from the same language model, the distinctive value of the consultant begins to disappear. The endless pursuit of productivity will result in everyone sounding the same. A profession that automates too much of that learning may produce consultants who are efficient but weak in judgement, which is the very thing clients are paying us for.
Well… you don’t. And I suppose that’s the case with everything we produce nowadays. But as search consultants, we can help reassure clients by demonstrating our humanity and flexing our judgement muscles. This includes leaning into our own voice in written materials, rejecting jargon as much as possible, and being forthright in our opinions.
The search firms that will succeed over the next decade will not be those with the most sophisticated AI. Rather, they will be those with the discipline to limit AI’s use while investing in the judgement muscle-building of their consultants.
For 25 years, Perrett Laver has produced the greatest executive search professionals for purpose-driven organisations. And thanks to our pragmatically open, yet appropriately sceptical approach to AI, our judgement muscles will only get stronger over the next 25 years.
Erik is Managing Partner for Perrett Laver’s work in the US and is based in Raleigh, North Carolina.
His experience in senior level executive search includes Board, Chief Executive and other senior leadership appointments our Social Impact & Environment, Higher Education, and Research, Technology & Innovation sectors.
Erik holds BA in History from Menlo College in California, where he was class Valedictorian and an MSt in History from the University of Oxford. Before joining the firm, he held the position of Business Development Manager for the geopolitical consulting firm Oxford Analytica.
