Dive Brief:
- Companies are increasingly turning to generative artificial intelligence to support mergers and acquisitions, particularly in the early stages of the deal process, Accenture said in a report released Tuesday.
- The share of organizations investing in generative AI for pre-deal M&A activity rose to 46% in 2026, up from 31% in 2024, reflecting growing interest in using the technology to streamline research and analysis before transactions are completed, according to the survey. Adoption has also increased on the post-deal side, though at a slower pace, climbing from 18% to 27% over the same period.
- “Organizations are using AI in market research, diligence review and financial modeling, but post-deal value realization is different,” Rachel Barton, global lead of private equity for Accenture, said in an email. “It requires coordinated execution across systems, can be less structured and often harder to scale.”
Dive Insight:
Just a few years after the introduction of ChatGPT, generative AI has transformed M&A dealmaking, shortening deal cycles by 10% to 30% and trimming costs by about 20%, according to a McKinsey report published last month.
“AI can help dealmakers uncover and capitalize on opportunities in geopolitical realignment, supply chain shifts, regulatory changes, and much more,” McKinsey researchers said.
Over the past three years, most dealmakers have focused on using generative AI to drive increased efficiency, particularly in pre-deal activities like market research and diligence review, according to Accenture, which surveyed 650 senior dealmakers across 12 industries and 24 countries in January. “These areas benefit from faster information synthesis, pattern recognition and scenario analysis, where gen AI capabilities complement human judgment,” the report said.
Meanwhile, agentic AI is quickly emerging as a “powerful enabler of more connected, insights-driven M&A,” the study found.
“The benefit is clear: Firms that scale the use of agentic AI and embed the technology in their value levers see 1.7x higher projected profitability margins,” Barton said.
In integration planning and execution, agentic AI will take over more than 50% of tasks, the McKinsey report said.
However, deploying AI in the M&A process also creates risks, according to Alex Jones, a partner at the law firm of Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP.
“In a typical M&A transaction, a seller shares highly sensitive information under a nondisclosure agreement (NDA), including trade secrets, financial statements and projections, customer and supplier contracts, proprietary technology information and employee information,” Jones said in a March 12 article.
“The use of AI in the due diligence process thus raises a fundamental question as to whether uploading confidential information into an AI tool violates the NDA,” he said.
Some sellers now include NDA provisions that prohibit uploading confidential information into public or open-source AI platforms, restrict use of AI tools that retain data or use inputs for model training, and require prior written consent before using AI in diligence, according to the article.
