What questions should we ask an AI consultant?
Six questions that separate real capability from marketing. First: what PE-specific systems have you shipped to production? Second: how does your data security architecture work, and specifically, do you use zero-retention? Third: who does the actual work after the pitch meeting, seniors or juniors?
Fourth: what happens when AI outputs are wrong, because they will be sometimes, and the plan for handling that matters. Fifth: how do you measure ROI, and can you show me the numbers from a previous engagement? Sixth: what does ongoing support look like after deployment?
The answers reveal more than any proposal deck. Firms that have done this before answer quickly and specifically. Firms that have not give vague responses or redirect to their credentials. Trust the specificity of the answers.