When accountants at British mid-tier advisory, tax and audit firm Moore Kingston Smith (MKS) started using artificial intelligence to speed up their work, profit margins jumped.
Colleagues in another team running checks against corporate fraud created a report for customers in two hours, something that previously took two weeks.
The rollout of AI is raising hopes that the U.K. economy can escape the productivity problem that has dogged it for two decades, even as slow growth pushes Treasury chief Rachel Reeves towards tax hikes in Wednesday's budget.
Economists say the dominance of services businesses in Britain's private sector compared to other countries could mean higher rewards if it rapidly adopts AI in powerhouse sectors such as accountancy and finance.
Ratings agency Moody's said on Friday that the U.K. could gain more than other countries from the advances in technology.
Becky Shields, MKS' head of digital transformation, said AI was freeing staff from repetitive work and giving them more time to work with clients.
"The large language models that underpin all of this technology are evolving all the time.
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