Good morning from the Financial Times.

Today is Monday, December 1st, and this is your FT News Briefing.

Artificial intelligence is threatening salaries for young professionals.

Plus, it could be another pivotal week for ongoing efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

And picking up an actual phone and talking on it

might seem outdated, but...

There are pockets of the market where voice trading is not just active, but actually growing.

I'm Victoria Craig, and here's the news you need to start your day. Artificial intelligence is reshaping the consultancy industry.

For the third straight year, top firms have frozen their starting salaries.

That's as they look to implement more productivity improvements from AI.

McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group are among those offering pay packages for graduates at the same level as last year.

That's according to Management Consulted, a company that coaches students through the interview process.

Starting salaries for consultants at the Big Four, meanwhile, have shown no increase since 2022.

Though some firms are looking for more mid-career, specialized staff,

some industry executives say the rolled-back hiring approach is in anticipation of more productivity gains from AI,

not necessarily because those gains have been realized yet.

This week could be a pivotal one for diplomacy aimed at finalizing a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. In a weekend address, Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky

struck an optimistic tone,

telling his country, quote, in the coming days, it's feasible to flesh out the steps to

determine how to bring the war to a dignified end. Senior Ukrainian officials met with U.S. President

Donald Trump's team in Florida over the weekend as both Russian and Ukrainian forces continued attacks on

each other. Ben Hall is the FTs Europe editor. He joins me now to talk about ongoing negotiations

...