Limited partners are increasingly pressing private equity and private credit firms to show what they’re doing with AI, though some experts say the pressure is more about staying competitive than a hardline mandate. 

The shift to AI has been faster this year compared to 2025, Danyal Ozduzenciler, co-founder and chief executive of Capsa AI, a startup building an AI layer for private capital firms’ deal data, told FinAi News. 

“For the first time, LPs are pushing … C-suites to justify their management fees by showing what they’re doing with AI,” he said, adding that Capsa research found 47% of limited partners closely monitor how their general partners are adopting the technology and 75% of GPs plan to invest in AI this year.

But the consultants advising these firms describe a more measured picture. 

For example, limited partners are asking questions but not driving AI adoption outright, Paul Weichselbaum, a principal in the private equity practice at Kearney, told FinAi News. 

Kearney’s 2026 PE report published in February found that 48% of private capital leaders rank AI among their top three forward capabilities, versus 65% of asset managers, hedge funds and pension funds. 

“It’s increasingly table stakes to have some AI capability, but likely not a differentiator yet,” he said, adding that Kearney hasn’t seen evidence that AI is affecting deal counts or operating costs.  

The bigger effect is helping firms disqualify weak deals faster and focus partner time on fewer but stronger deals, he said. 

Steven Baum, chief financial officer and head of COO solutions at global asset servicer Ocorian, said he hasn’t seen limited partners make AI adoption a condition of manager selection. 

“They are still primarily focused on performance, process, controls and the quality of the team,” he said, though he expects they increasingly will want to see technology used effectively. 

Better deals over lower fees 

Weichselbaum said there’s “no evidence so far” linking AI to fee compression. He expects AI’s payoff to show up in better performance of portfolio companies. 

“AI becomes an extremely important tool” for sourcing deals and extracting value faster, David Brink, managing director in the private equity practice at SSA & Co., told FinAi News. 

Firms that use it most effectively, he said, will be positioned to deliver outsized returns through quicker operational improvements. 

Brink said AI is helping funds move past guesswork in performance improvement and integration planning, enabling faster realization of partnerships, revenue gains and cost cuts across portfolio companies. 

Whether that translates into lower fees for limited partners, the consultants agree, will be answered in the coming quarters, Weichselbaum said. 

Register here for the FinAi Lending Summit, set for Oct. 7-8 in Las Vegas. This inaugural event will include speakers from Fifth Third and Capital One as well as a fireside chat with Piermont Bank founder and Chief Executive Wendy Cai-Lee