How AI Is Changing M&A: Insights from Axial Dealmakers

Artificial intelligence has steadily evolved from buzzword to business tool, and is now being meaningfully integrated across M&A workflows throughout the deal lifecycle. 

According to a recent Axial member survey, 74.2% of respondents already use AI tools in their deal sourcing or marketing efforts, and another 9.7% plan to adopt them later this year. From drafting CIMs to screening buyers to automating outreach, AI is reshaping how M&A transactions are initiated, structured, and executed.

Are you currently using AI tools to support any part of your deal sourcing or deal marketing efforts?

Today’s article features the compiled results from April’s survey on AI in M&A. We are grateful to all the members who participated and shared thoughtful insight on this topic. If there are specific themes you’d like to see explored in future monthly surveys, please drop me a line here.

Which parts of your workflow are you currently using AI for? Multi-select

The chart above shows that AI is already embedded in many core M&A workflows. 80.6% of respondents use AI for market research, making it the most common application. More than half also use it for email drafting, buyer targeting, and CIM or teaser writing, suggesting AI supports strategic and communication-heavy tasks. Adoption is lower in areas like financial modeling and deal workflow automation, but still notable at 25.8% and 12.9%, respectively. Only 6.5% reported not using AI, pointing to broad experimentation and growing integration across the deal process.

How much of a competitive edge do you believe AI offers in M&A today?

According to the survey, 60% of respondents believe AI offers a moderate or significant edge in M&A today. While the majority view its current impact as moderate, there’s a growing belief that AI is quietly transforming how deals are sourced, marketed, and executed. As Max Friar shared, “ChatGPT’s Deep Research function is fairly stunning and does in 15 minutes what used to take 5 hours… Within 2 years, most brokers and advisors will use AI to create CIMs, teasers, conduct buyer research, and analyze LOIs.” The overall sentiment signals increasing confidence in AI’s role—less hype, more utility—as adoption continues to expand.

Which AI tools or platforms have been most helpful?

Survey participants identified more than 25 different AI tools currently in use across the dealmaking process. Popular general-purpose tools include ChatGPT, Claude, and Microsoft Copilot, while others like Diligent, Superhuman, and Factsheet support more specialized tasks. The diversity reflects a trend toward multi-platform experimentation based on workflow needs.

As Ryan Barnett of Revenue Rocket put it: “I can’t give away all the secret sauce here, but we’ve seen data sources make finding targets easier. Third-party databases, including ‘AI Find Similar’ functions, are cutting down research times… Emerging tools like Deliverables.AI create CIMs or company profiles in minutes, not weeks… CoPilot or Gong provides us with new tools to resurrect old deals, find new opportunities, and act faster between phone calls and actual deal flow.”

The range of tools reflects a growing trend: AI adoption in M&A is not centered on a single platform, but spread across solutions based on function, use case, and individual preference.

How do you expect AI to change dealmaking in the next 12-24 months?

What’s your biggest concern about using AI in your deal work?

When asked about their biggest concern with using AI in deal work, the top response, selected by nearly 38% of respondents, was overreliance or loss of judgment. This suggests that while AI is recognized as a powerful tool, deal professionals may be wary of diminishing the critical thinking and nuanced judgment that define successful dealmaking.

Accuracy followed closely at 34.48%, underscoring the importance of verifying AI-generated outputs, especially in high-stakes or data-sensitive contexts. Meanwhile, confidentiality and data privacy ranked third (20.69%), a likely reflection of the cautious approach M&A professionals take with sensitive information.

Any final thoughts regarding AI in M&A?

Ultimately, AI is emerging as a strategic ally for the M&A community—not as a replacement for human judgment, but as a resource that enhances it. As reflected in the survey, deal professionals are already putting AI to work, and those who invest in understanding its capabilities today may find themselves better positioned to capitalize on tomorrow’s opportunities.