AI has arrived in dealmaking, and there’s no going back.
That is the central message of The New Deal Team — a new global study with Datasite in collaboration with FT Longitude, of 1,000 dealmakers examining how AI is changing M&A.
The findings show an industry that has moved well beyond AI experimentation. AI is now being used across sourcing, screening, diligence, preparation, reporting, and decision support.
The shift is significant: 62% of dealmakers say relying on human-only decision-making is no longer defensible in complex deals. 71% believe firms that ignore AI today will struggle to compete over the next five years.
For dealmakers, the question is no longer whether AI belongs in the process. It is about how to use it well.
AI is changing deal outcomes
The report makes clear that AI is not just improving efficiency around the edges but influencing real dealmaking outcomes.
- 43% of dealmakers say AI is already making better deal decisions than humans in some scenarios
- Nearly one-quarter, 24%, say AI has helped them complete a deal they otherwise would have missed
- 66% believe using AI across the deal lifecycle is a crucial way to de-risk transactions
These numbers point to a major change in how deal teams create competitive advantage.
AI is helping investment firms move faster, see more opportunities, identify risks earlier, and make better-informed decisions. That matters in an environment where timelines are compressed, data volumes are growing, and competition for quality assets remains intense.
AI is used in every stage of the deal lifecycle
AI adoption is no longer limited to one or two isolated use cases. Dealmakers are using or exploring AI across the entire investment lifecycle.
According to the report:
- 96% of dealmakers are using or exploring AI for sourcing and screening
- 92% are using or exploring strategy and ideation; 92% for deal preparation
The highest levels of regular use are in the most labor-intensive stages:
- 50% of dealmakers regularly using or have fully embedded AI in due diligence
- 43% percent are doing so in sourcing and screening.
- 39% are using it regularly or have fully embedded it in deal marketing.
This is where AI’s value is easiest to see. It can review large volumes of information, identify patterns, surface anomalies, compare opportunities, and help teams focus on the issues that matter most.
Dealmakers see AI’s biggest impact during due diligence
Half of the dealmakers surveyed are already using AI regularly or have fully embedded it in diligence, and only 4% say they do not use it at all at this stage.
The report also finds that 45% of dealmakers believe AI should lead in identifying potential red flags during due diligence.
That does not mean AI is replacing human judgment.
It means AI is becoming the layer of analysis: reviewing documents, extracting key information, identifying inconsistencies, and helping teams understand where to focus their attention.
By 2030, dealmakers expect the biggest benefit of AI in due diligence to be better identification and mitigation of risks, cited by 26% of respondents.
For M&A, this is the promise of AI-enabled diligence: faster review, stronger coverage, and better risk visibility.
The human role is moving up the value chain
One of the report’s most important findings is that AI is not eliminating the human role in dealmaking; it's redefining it.
Specialized AI agents like Amp by Blueflame, take on more process-heavy work, and human dealmakers are spending more time on judgment, relationships, trust, negotiation, and accountability.
The data supports this balance:
- While dealmakers are increasingly comfortable with AI leading certain analytical tasks, 45% still believe deciding whether to proceed to signing should remain an entirely human decision
- Only 22% say AI should lead to that recommendation
That distinction matters. AI can identify a risk, summarize a data room, compare targets, and generate recommendations — but humans still own the final call.
Trust, accuracy, and security are now central to AI adoption
As AI becomes embedded in dealmaking, trust becomes critical.
The report shows that accuracy is the top attribute that dealmakers value when using AI, cited by 71%. Security follows closely at 70%, with reliability at 58%, speed at 57%, and compliance at 44%.
This is an important reminder: in M&A, AI cannot simply be fast. It must be verifiable, secure, and reliable.
Dealmakers are responding accordingly:
- 58% percent say they are applying human review or validation to AI-generated outputs
- 54% percent are using purpose-built AI tools rather than general-purpose models
- 52% percent are using AI only within secure, controlled environments
- 46% percent are validating AI outputs against known outcomes.
The future of AI in M&A will not be defined only by model capability.
It will be defined by trust infrastructure: citations, auditability, secure workflows, governance, and human validation.
The firms that win will be AI-native, not AI-curious
The report shows a clear divide emerging between private equity firms that are experimenting with AI and firms that are institutionalizing it.
Using AI occasionally is not the same as building AI into the way a deal team operates. The firms that gain the greatest advantage will be those that embed AI across the investment lifecycle while maintaining clear accountability for decisions.
That distinction will matter more over time.
By 2030, dealmakers expect AI to improve higher-quality decision-making in strategy and ideation, increase deal volume in sourcing and screening, reduce manual work in deal marketing, accelerate deal preparation, improve risk mitigation in diligence, strengthen governance at closing, and improve decision-making in board reporting.
In other words, AI is becoming part of the operating system for modern M&A.
The new deal team is human and AI
The next era of M&A will not belong to firms that replace people with AI.
It will belong to firms that combine AI’s speed, scale, and analytical power with human judgment, accountability, and relationship-building.
That is the real message of The New Deal Team.
