Future of Professionals Report

Thomson Reuters has surveyed 1,200 professionals across North America, South America, and the UK to understand better how the macro trends impacting their businesses are converging with their talent, customers, and environment.

These professionals think AI, tech, and automation will have by far the most significant impact on their business in the next five years.

Key Findings:

• 67% of respondents believe AI will have a transformational or high impact on their profession in the next five years and two-thirds of survey respondents 66% predict AI will create new professional career paths.
• 45% of professionals pin their artificial intelligence aspirations on improved productivity, expecting benefits for their talent, customers, and environment.
• “Producing high-quality advice” tops the list of essential motivators across industries, with AI leading professionals into the new era of what it means to be an advisor
• Developing responsible AI is an industry issue and a societal imperative. Professionals stated some of their biggest concerns: accuracy 25%, data security (15%), and ethics (15%).

Among legal professionals, improved productivity and efficiency were seen as the biggest positive effects of AI (75% and 67%, respectively). And among those respondents at law firms more than half (55%) see AI as an opportunity for increased revenue and lower costs. Further, a large majority (81%) of legal respondents said they expect new services that will create new revenue streams to emerge within the next five years.

A majority (58%) also said they anticipate a rise in their professional skill level, while more than two-thirds of legal professionals see a more consultative approach to advice emerging.

Read the full report