According to a new report from Fairmarkit, procurement teams are under growing pressure to catch up as artificial intelligence speeds up dealmaking across supply chains.

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Fairmarkit’s 2025 AI in Procurement Index, based on a survey of procurement leaders, shows a widening gap between what executives expect and what procurement teams can actually do with AI. The report points to major hurdles, including trust in AI data, rising costs, slow internal progress, and a growing skills gap.

“Procurement is at a breaking point,” the report says. “GenAI is no longer optional. It’s a competitive necessity.”

A big concern is that suppliers are moving faster than buyers. Nearly all (94%) procurement leaders say their suppliers already use AI in negotiations. At the same time, 43% of procurement professionals are worried about making decisions based on bad or incomplete AI data. Another 39% fear that AI could automatically agree to bad deals during fast-moving talks.

Economic pressures are also pushing procurement to move faster. The report found that 84% of procurement leaders believe a recession is either already here or will arrive by the end of 2025. Cost control is now the top challenge for 45% of procurement professionals.

While 91% of companies say they have executive mandates to adopt AI, internal roadblocks remain. These include concerns about data privacy (64%), governance hurdles (55%), high costs (56%), and teams that don’t fully understand how to use the technology (52%).

Even so, AI is changing what skills are needed. “GenAI isn’t replacing talent. It’s reshaping it,” the report says. Nearly half of procurement leaders expect their teams to grow, not shrink. Top skills now include data interpretation, strategic thinking, collaboration across departments, and adaptability.

Looking ahead, 49% of procurement leaders expect the pressure to adopt AI to rise in the next year.

Fairmarkit says procurement teams can move forward by focusing on four areas: improving data quality, making AI tools easier to use, building trust and compliance into AI, and investing in training. “By taking these proactive steps, procurement teams can transform pressure into opportunity,” the report says.