In Ideba’s latest quarterly newsletter (Q3 2026), my colleague and I compiled the top AI trends we’ve observed this year and explored what those trends tell us about the future of business.
I want to take a closer look at one trend in particular: clients are driving AI adoption and expecting their partners to take the lead.
Across hundreds of AI-related qualitative research interviews conducted this year, we found executives are actively encouraging their third-party partners and vendors to embrace AI because they recognize its potential to deliver significant time and cost savings.
Take outside counsel, for instance. With legal fees often reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars, corporate clients are increasingly looking to their law firms to leverage AI to improve efficiency and reduce costs. In nearly every interview I have conducted with corporate legal, security, and operations leaders, respondents have expressed a desire to see tangible results from their outside counsel’s use of AI, particularly when it comes to cost savings.
But here’s the catch: While clients enthusiastically encourage their partners to embrace AI, they still hold them to the highest standards of quality, integrity, security, and value.
Many of the people I speak with are candid about their own reluctance to deploy AI in litigation, citing rapidly evolving regulations, governance requirements, compliance concerns, and potential risks. Yet they expect their outside counsel to navigate those same uncertainties, implement AI responsibly, and deliver the resulting benefits.
In other words, clients want the rewards of AI innovation, but they are looking to their partners to shoulder much of the responsibility for getting there.
This dynamic is profoundly human, and quickly becoming a way for firms to compete. As we noted in the newsletter, firms slow to adopt AI will hear about it from clients first.
I’m reminded of my younger days, egging friends on to see just how close they could get to the edge without getting hurt. It’s one thing when your own safety is on the line, but it’s an entirely different game when someone else is the one taking the risk.
It’s difficult to predict how these dynamics will evolve. Heck, 12 months ago, few of us could have anticipated where AI would be today.
But one thing is certain: Ideba will continue to keep a pulse on the business landscape as these changes unfold, sharing insights drawn from hundreds of hours of interviews and thousands of hours of analysis – both human and AI-assisted.
I’m curious how this resonates with you.
Are you on the client side or the firm side of the equation? Are these expectations fair? And how do you think AI will reshape the relationship between clients and their partners?
Let us know by dropping us a line on LinkedIn. We’d love to hear your perspective.
– Lee Sumner, VP Research
