A top McKinsey exec shares what keeps him up at night and why he says AI is the solution

A top McKinsey & Company executive said AI offers the best hope for easing the US debt burden.

Eric Kutcher, a senior partner and chair of McKinsey North America, said Wednesday that the technology could lift the nation’s productivity and help push US GDP growth closer to 4%.

Real GDP grew at a 2.2% annualized pace in the second quarter, according to the latest government estimate. “That would be the magic bullet,” he told reporters at the firm’s media day in New York.

Kutcher made the statement in response to a question about what he hopes AI could solve for the firm or its clients.

He said the country’s debt is the chief issue that keeps him up at night.

Without the productivity gains AI could bring, Kutcher said, he sees no other way to tackle the national debt, which has topped $40 trillion.

Investors’ concerns about the country’s rising debt have helped push Treasury yields higher, making the debt more expensive to finance.

Kutcher isn’t the only prominent voice to recently sound the alarm about the nation’s debt.

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio warned Tuesday that he expects a debt crisis “within the next three years.” Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, told Bloomberg Television that the size of the national debt and the speed at which it is growing mean the US is “approaching our limits.” Infrastructure could stand in the way of the AI gains that Kutcher hopes could help ease the debt burden.

He said energy constraints could curb data-center capacity by 25% to 30% unless the country expands power supplies. “That’s not a simple problem to solve,” he said.

Kutcher also spoke about hiring at the firm.

He said that McKinsey expects to keep adding consultants in North America.

He said the firm’s consulting staff could grow at roughly the same pace as last year — about 12% — with 85% to 90% of hires continuing to come from campuses. “I am actually incredibly bullish about what this opportunity is for our profession, in part because this is the most transformative moment that this generation will get to lead through,” he said. “I think this is a once in every 50-year technology, and this is not new news.

We’re all seeing it, and experiencing it.”