AI Meets M&A: Insights From a Dealmakers' Boot Camp

For years, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) has relied on relationships, rigorous due diligence and expert judgment. Now, generative AI (GenAI) is starting to add real muscle to that equation. But this isn’t about technology replacing people — it’s about helping deal teams work more efficiently so they can focus on high-value tasks.

That was the focus of a recent AI boot camp for corporate development dealmakers led by legal thought leader Ari Kaplan and hosted at Pillsbury’s offices in Silicon Valley, where senior professionals from corporate development, legal and IT teams came together to share firsthand how GenAI is being tested and adopted in live deal environments. The message was clear: the technology is already having an impact — and the most successful teams are using it to solve targeted problems.

Where AI is developing early wins for dealmakers

Early use cases include drafting letters of intent (LOI), redlining agreements and analyzing past deal terms to accelerate repetitive tasks and improve decision-making speed. Unsurprisingly, due diligence stood out as the most active area for AI integration. Attendees described how artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to parse large volumes of contracts, compliance documents and financials — automating responses to standard questions and surfacing red flags faster.

Solutions like Intralinks’ AI-powered DealCentre AI are part of this tectonic shift in dealmaking. The platform has been purposefully designed to enhance how dealmakers interact with deal-related data by surfacing relevant insights and automating Q&A during due diligence. Instead of combing through hundreds or thousands of files manually, deal teams can now ask questions directly and receive precise, contextual answers drawn from the data room itself.

Importantly, these advances are being pursued with a cautious, structured approach. AI tools are undergoing rigorous vetting, data security remains paramount and many organizations are implementing responsible AI programs and mandatory training to ensure safe and effective use.

Post-merger integration (PMI) is another area ripe for disruption. Attendees discussed how AI could help teams map organizational structures, identify technology overlaps, monitor sentiment and track synergies — bridging the often-fragmented handoff from diligence to integration.

The biggest takeaway? GenAI is already changing how deals get done. The challenge now is to scale adoption strategically — balancing innovation with oversight and empowering teams to use AI as a true force multiplier.

Final thoughts

Our AI boot camp underscored one critical takeaway for dealmakers: the future of M&A will be a partnership between human expertise and AI-driven efficiency. By complementing traditional practices with cutting-edge technology, corporate development teams can unlock new levels of insight and value creation in the dealmaking process.

Speaking on an episode of The Dealist podcast, Intralinks’ Head of AI Analytics Prakash Kanchinadam noted, “Humans remain central to decision-making, especially for critical or material aspects of a deal. AI’s role in those processes is to empower — not replace.”

Corporate deal teams are actively seeking practical, low-risk opportunities to test GenAI. The most effective approach? Start with a clear, repeatable challenge — like non-disclosure agreement (NDA) review, Q&A routing or contract summarization — and apply GenAI to solve that specific problem. This issue-first, solution-forward mindset is what turns curiosity into capability — and pilots into long-term performance gains.

As tools like DealCentre mature and adoption becomes more widespread, the competitive edge will go to those deal teams who implement AI with purpose and rigor. The opportunity is real — but so is the responsibility to deploy it thoughtfully.