Citi: Firms Spending 0.25% of Revenue on AI — and Accelerating

Within the Citi H1 2026 report, a separate Citi survey finding received less attention than the revenue headline: at the end of 2025, firms spent 0.25% of total revenue on AI. That figure sounds modest, but Citi's Daniel Greenfield noted it is "growing among the industry and fast," with firms expecting spend to continue accelerating in H2 2026 and into 2027. For context, the 50 largest firms saw overhead expense grow 12.6% in H1, and Greenfield specifically cited AI infrastructure and professional staff hiring to support AI buildout as primary overhead drivers. The implication for law firm CFOs is that AI is simultaneously suppressing the hours-based revenue ceiling and driving up the cost base — a dual compression that makes near-term profitability dependent on rate power, which is currently available only to Am Law 100 firms with genuine pricing leverage.