Shared from Saga · AI signal
Operating modelRelevance · medium2026-08-15
WeWork Research & Insights·7 min read

The AI divide inside professional services firms is widening between empowered and lagging teams

Professional ServicesFinancial ServicesTechnology

A recent analysis of US business AI adoption using Census survey data shows that professional services now ranks among the highest office-based sectors for AI use, with more than a third of firms reporting AI adoption and generative AI heavily concentrated in writing, editing, information search, and document summarization tasks. Yet adoption is uneven across organizations, with some teams embedding AI deeply into daily work while others barely use it.

Why it matters for leaders
For a professional services leader, this points to a growing internal competitiveness issue: client teams and offices that master AI will deliver faster, cheaper, and better work than those that do not, creating inconsistent client experiences and internal tension on performance expectations.
Opportunity signal

You can turn this divide into an advantage by deliberately building AI flagship teams and codifying their practices into firmwide methods, playbooks, and training, using them as internal exemplars for how AI changes delivery and value creation.

medium
Risk signal

If left unmanaged, pockets of advanced AI use alongside legacy teams will lead to uneven quality, partner resistance, and potential shadow AI practices that increase legal and reputational risk.

medium
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