McKinsey and Company, garnered attention earlier this year for its swift adoption of generative AI tools. In June, the company announced that almost half of its 30,000 employees had embraced this technology.

Now, the firm introduced its proprietary generative AI tool named Lilli. Developed by McKinsey's ClienTech team led by CTO Jacky Wright, Lilli is a fresh chat application tailored for the company's employees. 

This innovative tool offers a spectrum of functionalities, including dispensing information, insights, data, plans, and even suggesting the most suitable internal experts for consulting initiatives. These capabilities are founded on an extensive database of over 100,000 documents and interview transcripts.

“Lilli aggregates our knowledge and capabilities in one place for the first time and will allow us to spend more time with clients activating those insights and recommendations and maximising the value we can create. An engagement team will be able to spend more time on problem-solving, coaching, building capabilities, and helping clients achieve the performance they aspire to achieve” said Erik Roth, a senior partner with McKinsey who leads the firm’s development of Lilli and integrating Gen AI technologies into the way we work.

In honour of Lillian Dombrowski, the initial woman employed by McKinsey in a professional services capacity in 1945, the AI tool has been christened Lilli. Having undergone a beta phase since June 2023, Lilli is scheduled for a full-scale implementation throughout McKinsey this upcoming autumn.

How does Lilli operate? 

When a user inputs a question, Lilli can scan our extensive knowledge database, pinpointing five to seven of the most pertinent pieces of content. It then condenses the essential points, incorporates links, and can even recognize experts in the relevant domains. The platform offers two distinct modes: one for exploring McKinsey's internal knowledge repository and another option for external sources.

Lilli was meticulously crafted in alignment with McKinsey's rigorous technology benchmarks, employing top-tier platforms in the industry. The tool was then put to the test with actual users, including both consultants and internal clients. Phil Hudelson, a McKinsey partner at the helm of technology platform development, highlights that, in a way, the technological aspect was the straightforward aspect of this endeavour. 

The primary challenge lay in maintaining swiftness while engaging the appropriate stakeholders, including legal, cyber security, risk management, and talent development experts. This comprehensive approach was essential to ensure the tool's effectiveness firmwide.