The New Normal: Gen AI Adoption in Professional Services in 2025

The professional services sector is experiencing one of its most significant technological shifts in recent memory, with generative AI (GenAI) moving rapidly from concept to core function. The 2025 Thomson Reuters “Generative AI in Professional Services” survey highlights just how quickly this transformation is taking place—not only in the legal and accounting professions, but across tax, risk, audit, and even government agencies.

Gen AI - No Longer Simply a Novelty

Within just over two years of ChatGPT’s public release, generative AI has shifted from an area of curiosity to one of concrete investment and implementation. The data tells a clear story:

GenAI usage has nearly doubled from 2024 to 2025—rising from 12% to 22% of organisations reporting active use.

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Another 50% of organisations are currently piloting or planning to deploy AI tools, showing that most firms are now grappling with when and how to adopt GenAI, not whether to do so.

The rapid expansion of Microsoft Copilot throughout the Office 365 suite, Google’s Gemini, and a wave of industry-specific AI products has only accelerated this trend, giving firms more options for embedding AI into everyday work.

Preparing for Workflows Centred on AI

While only 13% of professionals say GenAI is central to their workflow today, a further 29% expect it to reach that status in the next year. An overwhelming 95% believe GenAI will become an integral part of their organisation’s processes within the next five years.

The anticipated shift is not just about individual productivity gains. Across the sector, we are seeing automation of document review, generation of advanced analytics, efficient drafting of communications, and even automated risk assessment supported by GenAI.

Which Tools and Practices Are Leading?

The report outlines a move from experimental use to business-critical roles for AI tools:

41% of professionals use publicly available tools such as ChatGPT.

17% are already using industry-specific AI tailored to their sector’s requirements.

GenAI is increasingly used not just for research or first drafts, but for client deliverables and compliance activities.

Importantly, this trend shows a growing comfort among professionals to trust AI for higher-value, higher-risk tasks, provided it is implemented carefully.

Organisational Change: Beyond New Technology

Bringing GenAI into the business isn’t simply a technology upgrade. The Thomson Reuters survey points to several organisational impacts:

Budgets are shifting to prioritise AI-enabled solutions, and some job roles are changing accordingly as automation takes hold.

Perhaps most importantly, successful AI integration depends on linking GenAI adoption to broader business strategy and objectives—not just allowing individual experimentation.

The firms gaining the most benefit are those treating GenAI as a pillar of their organisational direction, supported by leadership buy-in and a deliberate approach to how AI aligns with goals such as client service, efficiency, and compliance.

What Happens Next?

The momentum is now clear and the direction set: GenAI is on its way to becoming central to professional services in Australia and globally. While the journey to full integration will have its challenges—not least around policy, training, and measurement—firms that take action now will be best placed to make AI a core business capability rather than just another tool.

As summed up by one survey respondent: “It is taking this next step into the GenAI frontier that many organisations will have to contend with going forward.”

The coming year will be critical for organisations to move from pilot programmes and piecemeal adoption to a more strategic, organisation-wide approach to GenAI. The question for leaders is not if, but how quickly and effectively they will make AI a cornerstone of their operational strategy.

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For a deeper dive into the full survey results, adoption benchmarks, and examples of what leading organisations are doing, you can read the complete report here.

Wherever your firm is in it's AI journey, we'd love to be a part of it. Get in touch to learn how we can help.

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