The Role of a CRICOS Consultant in the Age of AI
In today’s AI-driven world, it only takes a few seconds to generate a compliant policy or procedure aligned to the relevant standards. You can ask ChatGPT or Grok to draft almost anything — from curriculum documents to audit responses — and they’ll deliver instantly. So, where does that leave consultants like me, particularly those working in the CRICOS and education compliance space?
What services or products can we still offer that make a real difference? How do we remain valuable when AI can generate what once took us hours?
This isn’t just a question for CRICOS consultants; it applies to any role rooted in knowledge and expertise. As the cost of knowledge drops and access becomes easier than ever, the challenge shifts: how do we add value beyond information?
To answer that, we need to reflect on a simple question: why do clients still contact consultants?
There are countless consulting companies and AI tools that can offer products, templates, and generic advice. But clients still reach out to me. Why? Because not everything can be automated. AI can produce content, but it doesn’t understand context. It can simulate insight, but it doesn’t bring lived experience, industry nuance, or human judgement to the table.
The true value of a consultant today isn’t just in what we know — it’s in how we apply that knowledge.
It’s the ability to read between the lines of a compliance report, to navigate grey areas in regulation, to anticipate what an auditor might focus on, or to provide reassurance when a college faces uncertainty. It’s the relationships we build, the trust we earn, and the tailored advice that AI simply can’t replicate.
As AI makes document production cheaper and faster, the perceived value of content alone may drop. But the cost and importance of engaging a consultant who brings clarity, context, and confidence in front of regulators may actually rise. Because at the end of the day, it’s not just about having the right documents — it’s about having the confidence they’ll stand up to scrutiny.
In fact, the irony isn’t lost on me: this very blog, which once would have taken me hours to draft, edit, and finalise, took less than five minutes to complete with the help of AI. That’s the power of the tools we now have — but also the reminder that the value lies not just in the output, but in what we do with it.
AI accelerates the how, but it’s still humans who define the why and what's next. And as long as regulatory bodies value not just compliance but confidence in application, consultants will continue to play a vital role not in generating documents, but in guiding decisions.
So I guess the role of the client will then be choosing the right consultant with the right type of experience to bring a successful outcome.
The tools may have changed, but the need for trusted expertise hasn’t.
Written by Michelle Lee
(ELICOS Consultant)
