AI is transforming professional services faster than most firms expected.
Consulting, accounting, and legal firms are investing heavily in AI tools designed to accelerate research, automate analysis, and increase productivity. But while the technology is advancing quickly, many organizations are discovering a different challenge entirely: Their people aren’t fully prepared to use it.
We recently surveyed 258 professional services leaders across the United States and United Kingdom, and the research reveals a striking pattern. Firms are confident in their AI ambitions, but many are struggling to turn those ambitions into scalable client offerings.
And the biggest barrier isn’t the technology itself. It’s skills.
AI is being used to augment people, not replace them
Despite headlines about AI replacing human work, professional services firms are overwhelmingly using AI to make their people more productive, not to eliminate roles.
Seventy percent of firms say their AI strategy is focused on efficiency, helping professionals work faster and save time and money. Only 30% are prioritizing building proprietary AI products or solutions clients would pay to access.
And very few firms are pursuing fully automated models. Just 17% say they’re moving toward a structure where AI agents do most of the work, while 73% plan to keep headcount flat or hire more people as AI adoption grows.
This approach is likely to continue in the near term. Looking ahead deeper into 2026:
- 57% of firms plan to invest more in AI that augments human productivity
- 43% will focus on developing AI-first products, solutions, or assets
In other words, the industry’s immediate priority isn’t replacing expertise. It’s amplifying it.
AI is already changing client expectations (and pricing conversations)
Even as firms focus on internal efficiency, AI is already reshaping the economics of client work.
Nearly eight in 10 firms (79%) say AI is changing pricing conversations with clients. Some are responding proactively—37% report actively addressing pricing changes—but many are reacting to pressure from clients who expect faster delivery and lower costs.
About 42% say clients are directly questioning their pricing models. And consulting firms are feeling the pressure most acutely:
- 87% of consulting firms say AI is impacting pricing conversations
- 75% of legal firms report the same
- 73% of accounting firms say pricing discussions are shifting
Interestingly, midsize firms appear to be experiencing the most disruption. Among firms with 1,000 to 4,999 employees, only 9% say AI has had no impact on pricing conversations. Among firms with 5,000+ employees, that number rises to 31%.
The takeaway: AI isn’t just transforming workflows. It’s reshaping how professional services create and capture value.
Leaders feel confident about AI—maybe too confident
On the surface, professional services firms report high confidence in their AI readiness. But their perception of “readiness” is often disconnected from the reality of project execution.
According to the survey:
- 88% say their workforce is very or extremely prepared to meet leadership’s AI ambitions
- 94% believe they are ahead of their clients on AI adoption
Leaders also report strong confidence in discussing critical AI topics with clients, including:
- AI risks (94%)
- AI governance (89%)
- Business impact (87%)
But that confidence starts to erode when AI moves from theory to market reality.
Only 26% of leaders say they feel great about selling their firm’s AI solutions, while 71% say they feel only “OK.” Many say AI tools aren’t yet delivering fully on their promises, or that teams struggle to articulate the value clearly to clients.
This gap between confidence and commercial execution is becoming increasingly visible across the industry.
A growing skills gap is stalling AI progress
Perhaps the most striking finding from the research: AI initiatives are failing at a surprisingly high rate.
Most firms—61% of those surveyed—say they’ve abandoned at least one AI project in the past year due to a lack of internal skills. And more than a third (35%) say they’ve abandoned multiple initiatives.
The problem is particularly pronounced in consulting firms, where 73% report shelving at least one project.
Structural challenges are also slowing progress. Half of respondents say their partner compensation model makes it harder to invest in AI initiatives, which often require upfront investment before generating billable work. AI isn’t just a tech or skills problem. It’s also an incentive problem.
This challenge is especially acute:
- In UK firms, where 69% cite compensation structures as a barrier
- In law firms, where 61% report the same challenge
These dynamics highlight a core tension: AI requires long-term capability building, but many firms still operate on short-term incentive models.
The people problem starts at the top
While firms are investing heavily in AI, many leaders believe the biggest skills gap exists at the very top of the organization.
When asked who is least prepared to use AI effectively, a majority of respondents pointed to partners.
- 55% say partners are the least prepared group overall
- In the UK, that number jumps to 81%
- At law firms, 74% say partners are least prepared
By contrast, junior professionals are seen as far more comfortable with the technology:
- 44% say associates and analysts are the most prepared
- 34% point to directors
- Only 10% say partners are best prepared
Ironically, responsibility for AI skills development often falls to those same senior leaders. At 47% of firms, practice leaders, typically partners, are responsible for driving AI capability development.
This leadership gap may explain why many AI initiatives stall before they reach production.
The skills firms need most aren’t technical
Another surprising finding from the survey: The most urgent AI skills gap isn’t technical. It’s communication.
When asked which capabilities their organizations lack most, the top answer was change management and stakeholder communication, cited by 58% of respondents.
Other critical skills lacking included:
- Using and prompting generative AI tools in daily work (31%)
- AI governance, risk, and compliance (30%)
- Translating client problems into AI use cases (28%)
- Technical AI development skills (27%)
In other words, the biggest barriers to scaling AI are often human, organizational, and strategic—not simply technical.
The professional services talent model is already changing
As AI adoption grows, firms are rethinking how their talent models work.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents (63%) say junior roles will evolve significantly, with different responsibilities and skill requirements in the future.
Some firms are already experimenting with new approaches:
- 17% expect graduates to enter employer-funded training programs before starting client work
- 19% plan to hire more senior talent externally rather than relying solely on traditional pipelines
Entirely new roles are also emerging. Over the next 12 months, firms expect to hire for positions such as:
- Integrity layer leads (73%)
- Workflow engineers (47%)
- Agent orchestrators (42%)
These roles reflect a broader shift in how work is organized. Instead of traditional hierarchies built around manual analysis, firms are beginning to structure teams around AI-enabled workflows and digital assets.
What this means for professional services firms
Taken together, the survey findings paint a clear picture of where the industry is headed.
Professional services firms aren’t abandoning human expertise. They’re re-engineering how expertise is delivered.
AI is accelerating research, analysis, and content generation, but the most valuable skills are becoming:
- Judgment
- Accountability
- Communication
- Systems thinking
As our Head of Professional Services Ash Khanna explains:
Producing work is becoming a commodity, and the premium now is on accountability and judgment. The firms that thrive will be the ones that help mid-level professionals—historically the QA layer between juniors and partners—reinvent themselves as workflow engineers.
In this model, professionals don’t just deliver work. They design, guide, and validate AI-enabled systems that deliver it.
Preparing the professional services workforce for an AI-first future
If you only take one thing away from our latest survey research, this should be it: Technology adoption alone isn’t enough.
For AI strategies to succeed, firms must invest in building the human capabilities required to design, deploy, and manage AI-driven workflows. That includes developing new capabilities across every level of the organization, from senior leaders responsible for AI governance to mid-level professionals designing AI workflows and junior talent executing AI-augmented work.
Introducing our AI training for professional services
To help firms navigate this shift, we’ve developed specialized AI training programs designed specifically for professional services organizations. These programs focus on the real-world skills professionals need to operate in AI-enabled consulting, legal, and accounting environments, from AI solution design to prompt engineering, governance, and workflow automation.
Our curated, role-specific learning paths operationalize AI capability for every layer of your firm and prepare professionals across roles to thrive in an AI-first operating model.
- Flexible delivery: Custom learning journeys tailored to your firm’s structure, engagement model, and client priorities.
- Hands-on application: Live sessions, sandboxes, and real engagement scenarios ensure learning translates directly into client delivery.
- Customized by role: Role-specific pathways for partners, architects, and delivery teams so capability builds where it drives the most value.
- Measurable outcomes: Clear KPIs and performance tracking connect learning to adoption, speed, and client impact.
Because the future of professional services won’t just be powered by AI. It’ll be powered by people who know how to use it well.
Let’s build your team’s future together so you can lead AI transformation in professional services. Get in touch today.