AI Adoption in Contracting 2026: From Experimentation to Impact

Now in its 4th year, the world’s leading study on AI in contract and commercial management returned. For the first time, it was able to draw on a substantial body of real experience. The conversation was no longer dominated by a mix of fear, scepticism, hype, or over-optimism. Instead, many organizations were developing a more grounded understanding of where AI genuinely added value, where it disappointed, and what it took to make it work.

AI was still an area of active exploration, but it was no longer an unknown frontier. It had moved from plans to practice, appearing in personal workflows, embedding itself in operational processes, and influencing how teams collaborated, authored, negotiated, and managed performance. Some were openly investing; others continued to experiment quietly. But across the community, the pattern was clear: AI had become part of the contracting toolkit.

We uncovered:

• Where did we stand at that point?
• Which expectations had been met—and which had not?
• How far had we actually come in four years?
• What impact was AI truly having on performance, process, and people?