How AI Search Will Impact Complex Professional Services

Key takeaways

• My view is that AI chatbots will drastically change how consumers choose professional services, especially when the work is hard to evaluate.
• Referrals remain essential, but AI can influence decisions without becoming more trusted than friends or family.
• Smart owners should measure how they appear in AI answers, then budget for improvements.

When people need a lawyer, surgeon, dermatologist, home builder, financial adviser or accountant, they ask for advice. Historically, that has meant family, friends, colleagues, Google and social media. Now it can also mean ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Perplexity or Microsoft Copilot.

These purchases are difficult to judge. Consumers often cannot tell the difference between professional offerings, even when those differences matter. That is why recommendations carry so much weight.

My view is that AI chatbots are becoming extremely important for professional services. Their ability to persuade consumers will drastically impact the customer journey as time goes on. I expect referrals to remain important, but AI will increasingly influence whom people consider hiring.

Why are professional services so hard to judge?

Professional services are difficult to judge because buyers often cannot assess quality even after the work is complete.

Economists call these “credence goods.” Michael Darby and Edi Karni introduced the term in 1973, extending Phillip Nelson’s earlier distinction between things buyers can evaluate before purchase and after use. Exhibit 1 shows the three categories.

In 2013, Diego d’Andria wrote in the journal Service Business that advertising, certification and reputation can be imperfect ways of resolving this information gap.

Consider someone choosing a plastic surgeon for breast augmentation. A surgeon can recognize technical differences that an average consumer may not understand. The buyer therefore puts considerable weight on reputation and referrals.

The same problem applies to lawyers and home builders. Consumers may know what they need without knowing how to compare the people offering it. Whoever helps explain those options can influence the decision.

Why do referrals matter so much to lawyers?

Referrals matter because they help prospective clients choose among professionals whose work they cannot easily evaluate.

Clio’s 2025 Legal Trends for Solo and Small Law Firms report says 59% of solo and small firms identify referrals as their top source of leads. In my conversations with New York City lawyers, I hear the same emphasis on family, friends, clients and professional contacts. That is my observation, not a survey.

My view is that the customer journey for lawyers will be drastically impacted by the persuasion of AI chatbots. Someone may get a personal referral and then ask AI about that lawyer or other options. Others may start with the chatbot.

Lawyers, especially founder-lawyers looking to grow their marketing funnel, meaning their pool of potential clients, need to take AI search seriously when allocating budgets and planning. Referrals will remain important, but they are no longer the only source of guidance.

Are consumers already asking AI for professional advice?

Consumers already use AI for legal and health questions, and I believe that will increasingly affect whom they consider hiring.

Clio’s 2026 Legal Trends Report says nearly one in four U.S. adults has used AI to answer a legal question, and 46% would consult it before contacting a lawyer. Quality, experience and cost still lead lawyer-selection criteria; only 6% chose modern technology or AI as a deciding factor, Clio says.

KFF’s March 2026 poll says 32% of U.S. adults turn to AI for health information and advice. McKinsey’s October 2025 survey says half of consumers intentionally seek AI-powered search; among users, 44% prefer it for insight versus 31% for traditional search. McKinsey projects $750 billion in U.S. revenue flowing through AI-powered search by 2028, across consumer spending, not professional services specifically.

OpenAI said in February 2026 that ChatGPT had 900 million weekly users. Google said in July 2025 that AI Overviews had more than 2 billion monthly users. Those measures differ, but the scale matters.

iLawyer Marketing surveyed 1,110 U.S. adults aged 18 to 65 in 2026. It says 41.9% would use ChatGPT when hiring a lawyer for an important issue, up from 28.1% in 2025. Google still led, and referrals were common write-in answers. Exhibit 2 shows this change.

These are stated intentions, not actual hires, and iLawyer Marketing sells marketing to lawyers.

Do consumers trust chatbots more than friends?

The surveys conflict on whether shoppers trust AI recommendations more than personal advice, so I would not claim AI has overtaken friends and family.

Alchemer’s 2026 shopper survey put online reviews and friends and family ahead of AI recommendations. Conveo’s 2025 interviews favored AI, although the sample was small and it did not publish question wording. Mastercard’s 2026 research found some teens favored AI product recommendations over a friend’s. Factor’s 2026 survey posed a hypothetical about an AI agent making purchases. Exhibit 3 compares the results.

All four concern shopping, not hiring professionals. Capgemini’s 2025 research says 53% of consumers made purchases based on generative AI recommendations, even as overall trust in AI tools declined compared with 2023.

To me, the trust contest misses the point. A chatbot does not have to beat someone’s best friend to matter. It only has to be in the room when the decision gets made. Chatbots can be wrong about a firm, which is another reason to check what they say. Smart owners will then optimize how often and how favorably their firms appear.

Does trust increase when people use AI?

People who use AI for health advice report higher trust in its reliability than people who do not.

KFF says 69% of adults who have used AI for physical health advice trust it a great deal or a fair amount for reliable health information, compared with 18% of nonusers. Exhibit 4 shows the gap.

My read is that as more people try these tools, more may trust their answers. That is my inference, not KFF’s finding. People already comfortable with AI may simply be more likely to use it. But the majority trust among those using AI for health advice is worth an owner’s attention.

What should an owner do first?

An owner should measure how the firm and its leading people appear in AI search, then make an improvement plan and budget.

1. Baseline the firm. Check when it appears in AI answers and how it is described.
2. Baseline the top individuals. Check how leading professionals appear in those answers.
3. Build a plan and budget. Decide what to optimize and allocate resources.

Position Strategy Group works directly with professional services owner-founders to establish this baseline and put together a plan to optimize how they show up in search. This is the work Position sells, called Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), or improving a firm’s presence in AI-generated answers.

As consumers increasingly outsource research to chatbots like ChatGPT, smart founders will proactively start putting together a plan for optimization. I believe AI search will become a major influence on the professional services customer journey.