Young Consultants Are Jumping Ship for A.I. Start-Ups

Geoffrey Jing joined the consulting firm Bain & Company after he graduated from Carleton College, taking the well-worn path funneling top students into high-paying jobs at leading corporate consulting firms.He figured that, like many before him, he would work at the firm for two years and then jump to something else.He figured wrong.Three months into the job, he quit and soon jumped to a start-up called Sieve, which builds data sets and environments for labs developing A.I.

models.“I wanted to spend more of my early career building more closely in A.I.,” Mr.Jing, 23, said.In the age of A.I., not even consulting, one of the most prestigious and long-coveted jobs for new graduates, is immune from the lure of the start-up scene.As money and attention pours into the artificial intelligence industry, companies are aggressively pursuing young consultants.

The young workers, whose job is to analyze and try to optimize companies — and who are accustomed to working grueling hours — are ideal for start-ups hungry to expand their businesses.And often — thanks to a combination of glamour and big financial upside — the overtures work.Young ambitious graduates like Mr.

Jing see an opportunity to join companies that are developing technologies that could transform the economy.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....