Chamath Palihapitiya Warns Consulting Firms About AI Partnerships

Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya has warned major consulting firms such as PwC and Accenture about working closely with AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, saying the partnerships could eventually hurt their own businesses.

In a post on X, Palihapitiya said consulting firms are helping companies that may later become their competitors.

“If you are running a consulting business and you are deploying Anthropic or OpenAI directly into your organization (I’m looking at you PwC and Accenture) you are letting the fox into the hen house,” he wrote.

The comments came shortly after OpenAI announced the launch of a new company called OpenAI Deployment Company, or DeployCo, which will help businesses build and deploy AI systems. McKinsey & Company is reportedly an investor in the new venture.

In the post, Palihapitiya argued that AI companies are using partnerships with consulting firms to strengthen themselves while also entering the same market.

“OpenAI and Anthropic are openly funding and starting competitors to you while also using your usage to drive more success for them,” he wrote. “This is not a failure on their part but a failure on your part.”

Partnerships with AI firms expand

The warning comes as consulting companies continue to deepen ties with major AI firms.

Last week, Anthropic and PwC announced an expansion of their strategic alliance, including plans to create a joint Center of Excellence and train 30,000 PwC professionals on Anthropic’s Claude AI models.

On the same day, Accenture announced a partnership with OpenAI to help US federal agencies deploy AI systems.

Speaking on a recent episode of the “All In Podcast,” Palihapitiya said generative AI is rapidly changing the software industry and making parts of the SaaS market less valuable.

“The low end of the market is basically finished,” he said as quoted in a Business Insider report.

He added that deploying AI inside large organizations is more difficult than many expected.

“It’s not like boop, boop, boop, put in a prompt and beep, bap, boop, it all works. It’s not how it works,” he said.

According to Palihapitiya, this is why AI companies now need deployment-focused businesses like DeployCo.

He also warned consulting firms against depending too heavily on short-term AI partnerships, saying they could end up “adopting and accelerating the companies that want to disrupt them.”