Parents are paying up to $50,000 for new genetic-testing services that include promises to screen embryos for IQ. Professional matchmakers are setting up tech execs with brilliant partners, partly to get brilliant offspring. Tech futurists are urging the intellectually gifted to multiply.

This isn’t science fiction—it is modern-day Silicon Valley, where interest in breeding smarter babies is on the rise.

This week, Zusha Elinson reports on the tech execs who are paying thousands to select potentially high-IQ embryos.

Startups Nucleus Genomics and Herasight have begun publicly offering IQ predictions, based on genetic tests, to help people select which embryos to use for in vitro fertilization. Bay Area demand is high for the services, which cost around $6,000 at Nucleus and up to $50,000 at Herasight.

In Silicon Valley, even the traditional approaches can be costly, with tech execs enlisting professionals to find intelligent partners.

One group of computer scientists in Berkeley, known as the rationalists, fear that AI poses an existential risk to humanity—so they are trying to use genomics to breed smarter humans who can save us all.

Yet the growing IQ fetish is sparking debate, with bioethicists raising alarms. Genetic tests have a limited ability to predict IQ, and experts caution about unintended consequences.

More on this topic:

• 🎥 Why tech elites want us all to have more kids. (Watch)
• The tactics Elon Musk uses to manage his “legion” of babies—and their mothers. (Read)
• How America’s baby bust became an election issue. (Read)

🤔 What do you see as the pitfalls and promises of trying to have high-IQ babies? Send me your thoughts, questions and predictions by hitting "reply" to this email.

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Last week, we reported on how McKinsey is navigating the consulting industry’s AI transition. Readers shared their thoughts on how AI will affect consulting companies:

• “I would expect and hope that consulting firms are reduced or eliminated. Having worked for more than one, I’ve seen from the inside how they often charge outrageous prices where almost all of the ‘grunt work’ is done by a low level associate, but billed at partner rates—since it is often the partner who does the flashy PowerPoint. As AI becomes ubiquitous, it is time for the customers of consulting giants to train and learn these tools and techniques and become ‘former clients.’”—Aaron Katz, New York
• “From my perspective as a management consultant with over 50 years of experience, I believe there is still significant opportunity in helping organizations implement their strategies effectively. While AI can be a powerful support tool, it is no substitute for the human insight and engagement provided by Management By Walking Around (MBWA). Too often, companies invest heavily in developing a strategic plan, only to delegate its execution to employees whose primary focus remains their day-to-day responsibilities. This is a critical misstep. The primary reason for engaging external expertise is to ensure that strategy doesn’t just live on paper, but gets translated into measurable, sustainable action. (P.S. This message was edited by Copilot).”—Ray Dunaway, Texas
• “Not only do I believe consulting firms will be replaced [by] AI, I believe most white-collar jobs across the board will be replaced by AI. Every time WSJ publishes an article about things like CEOs acknowledging AI replacement or college graduates struggling to find jobs, I find myself in a near paralyzing panic. I think consulting and every other white- and blue-collar industry should be having conversations and asking themselves: why are we so willingly letting this happen?”—Tiana Rossi, Washington, D.C.
• “I think AI will help consulting firms become lean and mean leadership hubs, meaning AI will do the heavy lifting, but consulting will start helping businesses to translate recommendations to their businesses. In a future where AI does the heavy lifting, consulting firms can become almost like fractional executives. Why pay full-time executives at a company when you have AI and consultants to do the job?”—Tiffany Diamond, Florida

(Responses have been condensed and edited.)

• Meet the early adopter judges using AI. (MIT Technology Review)
• Was your child’s report card written by a chatbot? (The Atlantic)
• What if AI doesn’t get much better than this? (The New Yorker)

Thanks for reading The Future of Everything. We cover the innovation and tech transforming the way we live, work and play. This newsletter was written by Conor Grant. Get in touch with us at future@wsj.com.

See more from The Future of Everything at wsj.com/foe.