Consultants Should Proudly Disclose Their Gen AI Use To Clients
You shouldn't try to hide that you're using Gen-AI tools from clients. You should be able to proudly highlight how you used them to achieve the best results for your clients.
Hi, I’m Rich. Welcome to my weekly newsletter where I share systems and frameworks for scaling your consulting practice from $0 to $1m+ in revenue.
You can get 1:1 personal coaching or explore my new program: Indispensable Consulting Systems.
Why Would You Be Worried About Disclosing You Used Gen-AI?
A coaching client recently asked whether they need to disclose their use of AI tools to a client.
There are two answers to this: a simple one and a more complex one.
The first answer is simple. The very fact that they’re asking the question suggests a troubled conscience. No one feels the need to disclose or hide their use of Grammarly for grammar and spell-checking, so why are you conflicted about Gen-AI?
And you should disclose it for that reason alone.
Why let your mind hold a burden you don’t need to?
Yet, I can see the dilemma. Won’t the client feel they could have done the work themselves if you’re using AI tools? Are they paying you to type prompts into ChatGPT?
But that’s a little like saying clients get less value in the internet era because consultants aren’t doing their research by reading books and reports in a library. It would be silly to ignore technological advances because they save time and effort!
If clients feel they can do the work themselves, they’re very inclined to try.
Talented People Get The Most From New Tools
Some believe the explosion of text-to-video and text-to-code tools will democratise the ability to make movies and software. This means newcomers will build the next hit movies and SaaS companies.
And there will be examples of that happening, I’m sure. The democratisation of technology allows otherwise unheard voices to emerge.
But, by and large, the people most likely to take advantage of these tools are those who already have the most talent and expertise to use them.
Those who already have great taste, storytelling abilities, and talent will make the best use of text-to-video tools. And the top coders will benefit most from text-to-code tools. The time and quality advantage will accrue to people who already have the advantages.
For example, the average person using Sora2 might type a prompt such as:
“Make a short video of a man walking through a city. It should look cool and cinematic. Have some cars in the background and maybe a sunset. Make it feel dramatic.”
And what you get is shown below:
This is the equivalent of someone typing “write a business strategy for my company” and accepting the boilerplate first answer.
I mean, it’s not terrible, but it’s hard to imagine the individual achieving their goal with prompts like that. And that’s because they don’t have the expertise to get the most from those tools.
However, experts do not describe what they want to see; they explain how it should look.
They understand lenses, blocking, pacing, lighting logic, camera psychology, and storytelling beats. They prompt at a structural level, not a surface level.
An expert prompt might be:
“A Steadicam shot following a 40-year-old man in a wrinkled charcoal suit as he power-walks down 9th Avenue at dusk.
Use a 35mm lens with shallow depth of field. Keep the camera low and slightly off-centre to create urgency.
Lighting should emphasise reflections from wet asphalt and neon signage.
Crowd movement should flow diagonally across frame to contrast against his determined forward motion.
This shot should feel like the midpoint crisis in a thriller - high stakes and internal conflict.
End on a slow push-in as he pauses under a flickering streetlight.”
You can see the difference in outcome, despite both users having the same capability.
This is very clearly so much better than the original shot. It’s much closer to something usable. And someone with actual expertise can almost certainly achieve even better results than this - and fix the errors above.
The difference is the expert has:
Better taste
Better mental models of what “good” looks like
A vocabulary for correction
An understanding of constraints
The ability to identify flaws and iterate
The same principle applies to consultants.
Consultants in any field with an excellent methodology and skill set should be able to make the best use of AI tools. In which case, we shouldn’t be shy or nervous about disclosing our use of them.
Clients are welcome to use them too if they like, but they shouldn’t be able to replicate our work. And if they can, well that’s a different problem entirely.
How To Disclose Your Gen-AI Use To Clients
When it comes to disclosure, you broadly have three options. I’ve listed these by order of my preference.
Option 1: Disclose that you’re going to use them
On a recent call with a client, I had a simple interaction that illustrated how to use AI tools.
Do you mind if I use Gamma App to put the presentation together? It will save me a day or so on my side.
The client said “sure” - why would they not?
The only real downside is that the presentation templates might be a little generic, but outside the major management consultancies, most clients don’t care. They need the core information.
Likewise, I can easily envision a situation where I might tell a client:
“Ok, let me build a list of examples from ChatGPT and fact-check this list using…
Again, you’re disclosing what you plan to do, and the client has a say if they’re ok with that. I can’t imagine the client will say no, but if they do, you can fall back on your pre-AI approach.
I haven’t yet received a negative response to a pre-disclosure statement.
Option 2: Disclose You Have Used Them
This is the most common. Someone on the website or in the deliverables has a disclosure statement that lists the AI tools you used and how you used them.
We mixed our consulting know-how with a few smart tools to move faster and deliver better results. For this project, we used ChatGPT to spark ideas and dig up examples, Gamma App to speed up slide creation, and Claude to quickly boil down a lot of research.
I’m not against this, but I’d rather it were clearly detailed than hidden away in a ‘terms and conditions’ style explainer. You shouldn’t be ashamed to use AI tools that help you do your work faster, better, and cheaper. So list very clearly what you’ve done, and why it’s a key part of your methodology.
Option 3: Disclose You Might/Might Have Used Them
After non-disclosure, this is the worst option. This goes something like:
Our organization may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist in the creation, review, and analysis of content, data, and communications. AI-generated outputs are reviewed and approved by our team before publication or use, and we remain responsible for their accuracy, quality, and compliance with all applicable laws and standards. AI tools are used to enhance efficiency and support decision-making, not to replace human judgment or accountability.
(p.s. I asked ChatGPT to create this 👆🏻)
This is usually detailed on page 17 of a client MSA, which no one will read.
What does this achieve if the client hasn’t seen it? You didn’t need permission to use AI tools in the first place. It anticipates a scenario where the client complains about using AI tools for the project, and you point out that it was clearly detailed.
Are You Confident In Your Use Of Gen-AI Tools?
In the end, the question isn’t whether you should disclose your use of AI tools, but whether you’re confident in the value you bring beyond them.
Good consultants, like good filmmakers or developers, get exponentially more from new technologies than newcomers ever will.
If AI helps you deliver more innovative thinking, sharper insights, or faster turnarounds, there is nothing to hide. I’d argue it would be worse if you didn’t use the best tools available to achieve better client outcomes.
Be open, be specific, and be confident. Gen-AI tools don’t diminish your expertise; they amplify it. If a client believes AI alone can replace you, you don’t have a disclosure problem, you have a value perception problem.
Good luck!
Connect with Rich
Are you new to the newsletter? Subscribe for free
Follow me on LinkedIn for more insights
Learn to write persuasive business proposals with my Proposal Mastery course.
Get 1:1 personal coaching. Get a personal coach to help you grow your consultancy practice. Tackle topics like positioning, client acquisition, delivering exceptional value, industry leadership, and building the systems to thrive. Hit reply or learn more about my coaching approach.