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Reading assertions of management consulting’s demise resembles those stories where the hero experiences perpetual near-death experiences, but never quite dies. A recent special report from The Economist offers that same riff; this time artificial intelligence (AI) will, among other things, put the nail in the coffin of general management consultants.

Experts opine that Google/Amazon/Microsoft will take over from McKinsey/BCG/Bain because consultancies still offer “simplistic” problem-solving approaches (re: 2×2 matrices regurgitated from client interviews). AI promises billions of datapoints churning through systems that metastasize as knowledge is gained, and predict outcomes with increased precision. In turn, organizations themselves will implement perfect solutions.

Sounds great. Just one problem: consulting has been on a path to extinction since its inception more than 100 years ago. Remember the business was built on consultants using stopwatches to time production workers, and then suggesting ways for those workers to move bits and pieces more efficiently. Why didn’t plant managers just do that themselves?!

Every generation, consulting has faced its next world-destroyer based on the same premise: “technology will not only tell us what to do, but do it.” Like Star Trek’s dermal regenerator, AI is absolutely the latest and greatest in that journey.

The fact is, AI could very well undermine consultants who don’t embrace its capabilities and understand its reach. But consulting exists for the same reason as any other professional service. Somebody must not only understand and use the tool, but has to help those on the receiving end implement the effect of the tool.

There’s a reason doctors don’t operate on themselves … yet?