Skip to main content

From ultra-fast briefings to consulting 'dolphins': 6 Big Four leaders share how they use AI at work [Business Insider]

When the leadership of the Big Four accounting firms—Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG—starts talking shop, you expect jargon about compliance and risk matrices. But over the last six months, I’ve sat down (virtually) with six of their top partners. The conversation has shifted. Now, they’re talking about “dolphins,” ultra-fast briefing bots, and why the best use of AI is often just getting your inbox down to zero.

These are not theoretical PowerPoint slides. These are real, daily workflows. Here are six specific ways these leaders are using AI right now—and what they say you should steal for your own job.

1. The “Ultra-Fast Briefing” for the Time-Crunched Partner

One partner at Deloitte told me he used to spend 90 minutes every morning reading analyst reports, industry news, and client updates. Now, he does it in seven. He built a simple internal bot that scrapes his personalized news feed, summarizes earnings calls, and even flags regulatory changes relevant to his specific three clients. “I don’t read the report anymore,” he said. “I read the bot’s summary. If I need to challenge the summary, I click the source. It saves me about 15 hours a month.” The key? He trained the bot to ignore fluff. No generic business news. Only actionable data.

2. The “Dolphin” Approach to Brainstorming

One of the most fascinating conversations was with a PwC advisory lead who uses AI not as a calculator, but as a creative partner. He calls it “consulting the dolphin.” The origin story? He was stuck on a client problem involving supply chain disruption. He fed the problem into an LLM (a large language model) but gave it a weird constraint: “Think like a marine biologist who knows nothing about logistics but understands swarm behavior.” The AI spit out an analogy about dolphin pod movement. It wasn’t the answer—but it unlocked a new way of thinking about distributed decision-making for his client. “I don’t use AI for the right answer,” he said. “I use it for the angle I hadn’t considered. It’s my cheap brainstorming partner.”

3. The Email Zero Machine (with a Human Filter)

KPMG’s head of innovation shared a brutally honest confession: “I hated my inbox. I had 300 unread emails by Tuesday morning.” His fix wasn’t an auto-reply. It was a custom AI filter that prioritizes emails by urgency and sender relationship. The AI drafts short replies for the bottom 80% of emails—internal approvals, status updates, logistics. He reviews them in a batch at 6 PM. “I don’t let it send anything without my click,” he stressed. “But it cuts my drafting time by 70%. I now spend that time actually talking to my team.” The rule: AI handles the routine; humans handle the relationship.

4. The “Red Team” Auditor for Contract Review

One EY partner in risk advisory described a tool that acts like a paranoid junior associate. When reviewing a vendor contract, the AI doesn’t just read it. It actively attacks it. It looks for hidden auto-renewal clauses, ambiguous liability caps, and terms that conflict with existing agreements. “It’s like having a lawyer who has read every contract we’ve ever signed in the past five years,” she said. “It finds anomalies I would have missed on a Friday afternoon.” The AI flags the risks; the human decides whether to fight. She estimates it has cut contract review time by half while catching errors that previously slipped through.

5. The Personal “Career Coach” Bot

This one surprised me. A Deloitte managing director uses a private, off-the-record AI journal. Each week, he inputs his calendar, his feedback from peers, and his own reflections. The AI analyzes patterns: “You had three high-stress meetings this week. Your feedback score was higher when you prepared a one-pager in advance.” It also suggests professional development resources—specific books, courses, or people to meet. “It’s not a substitute for a real mentor,” he said. “But it’s like having a personal data analyst for my own career. It reminds me of the stuff I’m too busy to notice.”

6. The Live “Translation” for Global Teams

Finally, a KPMG partner who runs a team spanning India, the UK, and Brazil uses AI for real-time meeting translation—but with a twist. The AI doesn’t just translate words. It translates tone. If a colleague in São Paulo speaks in a more direct, informal style, the AI flags it for the UK team: “This may sound blunt, but it is culturally normal here. No disrespect intended.” The partner says it has cut down on cross-cultural misunderstandings by a significant margin. “We used to have passive-aggressive email chains about tone,” he laughed. “Now, the AI acts as a cultural diplomat. It just makes the work less exhausting.”

The Common Thread: AI as a Tool, Not a Boss

If you read these six examples closely, you’ll notice a pattern. None of these leaders are handing over decision-making. They are using AI to reduce noise, find unexpected angles, handle grunt work, and smooth human interactions. They still make the calls. They still have the tough conversations. They still own the relationship with the client.

The AI is the junior analyst, the brainstorming buddy, the cultural translator, and the email secretary. But the human is still the leader. That’s the only way this works—when you treat AI like a very fast, very obedient, occasionally weird intern, not a replacement for judgment.

What’s the one thing you can do tomorrow? Pick one task you hate or one pattern you keep missing. Build a tiny bot. Give it one job. See if it makes your inbox a little emptier or your thinking a little wider. That’s all it takes to start.

Ahmed Abed – News journalist

Latest

Want to hire for your robotics startup? The autonomous vehicle industry is ripe for picking. [Business Insider]

Want to hire for your robotics startup? The autonomous vehicle industry is ripe for picking. If you are trying to build a robotics startup right now, you know the pain. You are competing against the defense industry, big tech, and legacy manufacturers for the same small pool of engineers. But there is a secret patch of talent that is suddenly, and somewhat unexpectedly, available. I’m talking about the autonomous vehicle industry. For the last decade, self-driving car companies hoarded talent. They paid six-figure salaries for people who could write a sensor fusion algorithm or calibrate a LIDAR array. But the tide has turned. The hype has normalized. The "robotaxi in every driveway" promise has been pushed back a decade. And as a result, some of the most brilliant hardware and software engineers in the world are looking for their next move. This isn’t about poaching desperate people. It is about recognizing that the AV sector has matured into a perfect training ground ...
Read more

In OpenAI trial, Elon Musk points to meetings with Barack Obama and Larry Page as proof he's serious about AI risks [Business Insider]

In a California courtroom last week, the ongoing legal battle between Elon Musk and OpenAI took a turn into the realm of high-stakes geopolitics and celebrity summits. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, testifying in a trial that could reshape the future of artificial intelligence development, pointed to two specific private meetings to underscore his long-standing warnings about unregulated AI. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and later left the board, is currently suing the company and its CEO, Sam Altman, alleging breach of contract and a deviation from the original non-profit mission. But in his testimony, Musk pivoted from the legal minutiae to a broader narrative: his personal, decades-long crusade to prevent an AI apocalypse. The Obama Meeting: A Warning at the Highest Level According to court transcripts, Musk recounted a private meeting with former President Barack Obama. The billionaire claimed he used this high-level audience to directly warn the 44th president about the exi...
Read more

Disney has decided to keep ESPN

It's official: Disney has decided to keep ESPN. After months of speculation, boardroom drama, and whispered rumors about spinning off the "Worldwide Leader in Sports," the House of Mouse has chosen to hold onto its most controversial—and profitable—asset. For sports fans, this is a seismic moment that deserves more than a headline. The decision, announced late Tuesday, ends a prolonged period of uncertainty. Analysts had been divided; some argued that ESPN's linear cable model was a dinosaur in a streaming world, while others insisted the brand still held immense value. Disney CEO Bob Iger, who returned to the helm in late 2022, has now made his stance clear: ESPN is staying in the family. Why the Change of Heart? To understand this, you have to look at the numbers. For all the talk about cord-cutting, ESPN still generates massive cash flow. It commands the highest affiliate fees of any cable network—around $9 per subscriber per month. That adds up to billions in...
Read more

Inside the rise of vibe coding's newest crowd [Business Insider]

In the sprawling digital landscape of 2024, a new kind of programmer is emerging. They don’t speak in Python or JavaScript. They don’t debug with breakpoints. They don’t even own a mechanical keyboard. Instead, they converse with artificial intelligence, describing their desires in plain English, and watch as code materializes before their eyes. This isn’t a dystopian future; it’s the present reality of "vibe coding," and its newest crowd is changing what it means to be a developer. Vibe coding, a term that first gained traction in niche developer forums, refers to the practice of using large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4, Claude, or specialized coding copilots to generate entire applications based on natural language prompts. The "vibe" is the key ingredient. It’s not about precise technical specifications. It’s about the mood, the aesthetic, the feeling you want the software to evoke. A user might say, "Create a retro-futuristic weather app that feels l...
Read more

Tory Burch says she would 'never trade off' being a good mom while building her company — but something had to give [Business Insider]

In a rare, candid interview that peeled back the glossy veneer of entrepreneurial mythology, fashion mogul Tory Burch admitted that building a billion-dollar brand while raising three sons required a trade-off she never publicly discussed—until now. "I would never trade off being a good mom," Burch told a small group of journalists last week in New York. "But something had to give. And that something was my own sleep, my own health, and the illusion that I could do it all perfectly." The 57-year-old designer, whose namesake company is valued at over $5 billion, has long been held up as a paragon of work-life balance. Yet in her new memoir and in conversations surrounding its release, Burch is rewriting that narrative—not as a confession of failure, but as a realistic blueprint for the compromises that define modern motherhood and ambition. The myth of 'having it all' Burch launched her company in 2004 from her kitchen table in Manhattan, with three y...
Read more

Here's what's behind oil's 8-day climb back to Iran-war highs [Business Insider]

Oil prices have surged for eight consecutive sessions, climbing back to levels not seen since the height of tensions with Iran earlier this year. The rally has caught many traders off guard, but the underlying drivers are a mix of tightening supply, geopolitical risk, and shifting market sentiment. Here’s a breakdown of what’s really behind this sustained climb. The Supply Squeeze: OPEC+ Discipline Meets Global Demand The most immediate factor is the ongoing production cuts from OPEC+ members, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia. Since late 2023, the alliance has trimmed output by roughly 2 million barrels per day (bpd). This isn't new news, but the market is now feeling the cumulative effect. Stockpiles in major consumer nations, especially the United States, have been drawing down faster than expected. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a larger-than-anticipated crude inventory draw last week of 4.5 million barrels. When supply is tight, any additional bullis...
Read more

I'm glad I escaped my cult leader husband [Business Insider]

I never thought I’d be writing this from a safe house, looking out a window that doesn’t have bars on it. But here I am. Free. And I need to tell this story, because there are other women out there who might be reading this and wondering if the man they married is actually the leader of a cult. If you are one of them, please keep reading. I am glad I escaped my cult leader husband, and I want you to know you can too. How It Started: The Man Who Seemed Perfect When I met David, I thought he was the most charismatic man I had ever encountered. He wasn’t wealthy, and he didn’t drive a fancy car. But he had this way of looking at you—like he could see right through your soul. He would talk about "higher consciousness" and "the divine path." It sounded spiritual, even beautiful. I was 24, lonely, and searching for meaning. David offered me a purpose. He said I was his "chosen partner," the only one who could help him build a community of light. Within six mo...
Read more

Supreme Court sides with anti-abortion center raising First Amendment fears about state probe

In a decision that legal experts say could reshape the boundaries of state authority over anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers, the Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously sided with a California-based organization, ruling that the state’s investigation into its practices raised serious First Amendment concerns. The ruling, while narrow in scope, has already ignited a fierce debate about the limits of government oversight and the protection of ideological speech. The case, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra , centered on a California law that required licensed crisis pregnancy centers to post notices about the availability of state-funded contraception and abortion services. The centers, which typically oppose abortion and do not provide referrals for the procedure, argued that the law compelled them to deliver a message that violates their religious and political beliefs. The state countered that the requirement was a straightforward consumer protection measur...
Read more

Meta earnings updates: Stock drops 6% as capex spending expected to balloon to new heights [Business Insider]

Meta Platforms Inc. delivered its latest quarterly earnings report after the closing bell on Wednesday, and the headline numbers were strong. Revenue beat expectations, user growth remained steady, and the company’s core advertising business continued to hum. But one number stole the show—and sent shares sliding 6% in after-hours trading: the eye-popping, ballooning capital expenditure forecast for 2025. The CapEx elephant in the room Meta’s management guided for full-year 2025 capital expenditures in the range of $60 billion to $65 billion. That’s a staggering jump from the $35 billion to $40 billion range the company had projected just a few quarters ago. To put it bluntly, Meta is preparing to spend like a tech giant that sees the future—and is willing to bet the farm on it. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, during the earnings call, framed this as a necessary investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure. “We’re building for the next decade,” he told analysts. “The compute power we...
Read more

Ukraine strikesRussia's Tuapse refinery, Putin says attacks intensifying on civilian targets

The ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia took another significant turn this week as Ukrainian forces struck the critical Tuapse oil refinery in southern Russia, while Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that attacks on civilian infrastructure are intensifying. The developments mark a new phase in the war, with both sides ramping up operations far from the front lines. Strike on Tuapse: A Strategic Blow In the early hours of Tuesday, Ukrainian drones and missiles hit the Tuapse refinery, located on Russia’s Black Sea coast in the Krasnodar region. The facility, one of Russia’s largest and most modern oil processing plants, has been a frequent target for Ukraine since 2022. According to local officials, the attack caused a massive fire that burned for several hours before emergency crews could contain it. The refinery processes roughly 12 million tons of crude oil annually, supplying fuel to both the Russian military and civilian markets. “This is a direct hit on Russia...
Read more