A new national survey from Deloitte shows that 86% of corporate and private equity firms have adopted generative artificial intelligence in their M&A workflows, with most respondents expecting to increase related investment over the next 12 months. The new survey, Deloitte’s first-ever 2025 GenAI in M&A Survey, gathered responses from 1,000 senior investors across major U.S. industries.
Among respondents, 83% have invested $1 million or more into generative AI for M&A use cases, with 88% of private equity firms and 77% of corporate entities exceeding that threshold. Spending is expected to continue rising — 54% of private equity respondents and 58% of corporate respondents anticipate modest increases, while 24% and 28%, respectively, foresee significant investment expansion.
The report also shows that early use of generative AI is mainly focused on the early stages of deals—such as M&A strategy (40%), identifying and evaluating targets (35%), and performing due diligence (35%). Most leaders are focused on seeing clear business results, with 81% of private equity firms and 80% of corporate participants expecting a measurable return on investment within one to three years.
“The 2025 Survey confirms that dealmakers are confident in GenAI’s potential to recast the look and feel of dealmaking, and are investing accordingly to realize its transformational benefits,” said Erik Dilger, managing director, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services. “While it’s still early innings for the technology and M&A application is currently concentrated on pre-sign activities, organizations are looking ahead to its potential to help inform decision making, uncover new sources of value, and drive post deal synergies.”
Despite growing momentum, barriers to adoption remain. Among respondents, 67% cited data security as a top concern, followed closely by data quality and availability at 65%. The survey reflects an accelerating focus on operational efficiency and information intelligence across the transaction lifecycle, but also highlights the need for governance, trust, and scalability in AI deployment.
Professional services and fintech firms are increasingly investing in generative AI (GenAI) to accelerate deal execution, reduce operational costs, and improve accuracy across transaction workflows. These organizations are applying GenAI to automate data synthesis, enhance due diligence, streamline valuation analysis, and support decision-making throughout the M&A lifecycle. By integrating GenAI into their digital ecosystems, deal teams are moving beyond experimentation toward measurable productivity and insight gains.
According to Gartner, worldwide end-user spending on generative AI is forecast to reach $644 billion by 2025, reflecting rapid adoption across industries including finance, law, and business intelligence. Other industry analyses, such as the Meridian Capital AI Market Monitor (Spring 2024), highlight sustained annual growth of more than 20% across the broader AI market. Together, these forecasts underscore how GenAI is shifting from a promising innovation to a strategic imperative within professional and financial services.
The widespread integration of generative AI into corporate and private equity dealmaking underscores broader shifts in the professional services and financial technology landscape. Deloitte’s findings suggest that deal teams are moving beyond experimentation and toward embedded, outcomes-focused applications as part of larger digital transformation strategies.
Click HERE to access Deloitte’s 2025 M&A Generative AI Study.
© 2025 Private Equity Professional | October 15, 2025
