Artificial Intelligence has become the defining business story of 2026. Almost every week brings news of another big investment, a powerful new platform or predictions that AI will reshape the workplace.
Much of the debate has focused on jobs and, in this case, whether AI can replace lawyers, accountants, consultants, marketers or recruiters.
Increasingly, however, a different question is exercising management teams: if AI helps complete work in half the time, how should firms charge for it?
It’s a challenge that extends well beyond the legal profession. Across professional and business services, AI is rewriting long-established business models, creating opportunities for some firms but uncomfortable financial pressures for others.
Research by PwC’s latest AI Jobs Barometer found that organisations making the greatest use of AI are achieving productivity growth around 40% higher than those making the least use of it. Rather than simply eliminating jobs, many are growing faster, paying higher wages and investing in higher-value skills.
That is undoubtedly positive, but productivity is only one side of the equation.
For decades, many professional services businesses have generated revenue by charging for specialist expertise and, in many cases, the time taken to deliver it. Whether it’s drafting legal documents, preparing financial reports, carrying out research, designing marketing campaigns or producing technical advice, hours have traditionally translated into income.
Generative AI changes that equation dramatically. Tasks that previously occupied experienced professionals for several hours can now often be completed in a fraction of the time, allowing advisers to focus on analysis, judgement and client relationships rather than routine preparation.
Clients, understandably, are beginning to ask whether those efficiency gains should be reflected in their bills. Many professional firms are already debating whether traditional hourly billing remains sustainable in an AI-enabled world.
If a piece of work that once took ten chargeable hours now takes four, where does the lost revenue go? Does the firm reduce its fees, seek to undertake a greater volume of work, move towards fixed-fee or subscription pricing, or charge instead for the value and expertise delivered rather than the time taken to deliver it?
There are no easy answers, but the debate itself illustrates how AI is beginning to reshape commercial models as much as operational processes.
The legal profession has also had a timely reminder that AI cannot replace professional judgement. In the recent High Court case of Cork & Anor v Smith, inaccurate AI-generated legal authorities found their way into court documents in an insolvency matter, prompting judicial criticism of failures in verification and supervision.
The wider lesson applies across professional and business services. AI can improve productivity, but it cannot replace experience, judgement and robust quality control. Businesses embracing AI will need to invest not only in the technology itself, but also in governance and oversight.
AI costs are also becoming harder to predict. Many providers are moving beyond fixed subscriptions towards usage-based charging, making AI another variable operating cost rather than a predictable software expense.
For businesses undertaking substantial research, document analysis or data-intensive projects, AI is becoming another variable operating cost that requires careful monitoring rather than a fixed software expense.
According to the latest Office for National Statistics Business Insights and Conditions Survey, 29% of UK businesses with 10 or more employees are now using AI technologies, rising to almost half of organisations employing more than 250 people.
Text generation and image generation are among the most common applications, and adoption continues to accelerate.
Recent KPMG research found that 30% of UK business leaders struggle to manage AI costs, while 42% admit they have only partial visibility of what AI is actually costing their organisations.
Businesses with a clear understanding of AI expenditure are four times more likely to achieve a positive return on their investment.
Those findings reinforce an important point. AI may improve productivity, but unless businesses understand how it affects pricing, margins and cashflow, higher efficiency does not automatically translate into stronger profitability.
History shows that businesses rarely encounter financial difficulty because of a single dramatic event. More often, problems emerge gradually as margins tighten, pricing comes under pressure and costs evolve faster than business models. AI has the potential to accelerate exactly those trends.
This is where early restructuring advice can prove invaluable. Restructuring is not simply about businesses in financial crisis. Increasingly, it is about helping management teams adapt to structural change before commercial pressures become unmanageable.
That might involve reviewing pricing models, reshaping operations, refinancing facilities, reducing overheads or identifying new strategic opportunities that better reflect changing market conditions.
AI is unlikely to replace trusted professional advisers any time soon. Clients will continue to value judgement, experience, creativity and relationships. What AI is already changing, however, is the commercial framework within which those qualities are delivered.
For many professional services firms, the biggest challenge over the next few years may not be learning how to use AI; it may be learning how to build a profitable business around it.
Written by Jo Milner, Managing Director at Buchler Phillips, a UK based independent boutique firm with an impeccable Mayfair heritage, specialising in corporate recovery, turnaround, restructuring and insolvency.