More than 3,100 companies with “AI” in their name were registered in the UK in the first nine months of 2026, according to an analysis of Companies House data by business law firm LegalVision.
The firm found that 3,183 new companies with “AI” in their names were incorporated between January and September, up around 29 per cent on the 2,467 registered in the same period of 2025. LegalVision predicts a further 1,272 before the end of the year.
The increase outpaced company formation as a whole. Total new company registrations rose 10.3 per cent over the same period, from 537,218 to 592,743, about 19 percentage points below the growth in AI-named businesses, the firm said.
Registrations of AI-named companies have grown every year since 2022, when ChatGPT was released to the public, according to LegalVision. They rose 205 per cent in 2023, while the January to September total climbed 174 per cent in 2025, from 902 to 2,467. The UK recorded 3,435 new AI-named businesses across the whole of 2025.
Measured against all new companies, AI-named firms accounted for 53.7 in every 10,000 incorporations in the first nine months of 2026, compared with 6.4 in the same period of 2019.
Existing companies are also changing their names. LegalVision counted 250 rebrands to include “AI” between January and September 2026, the highest figure in its data and a 34 per cent increase on the 186 recorded in the same period of 2025.
At least 722 companies have rebranded to include “AI” since the widespread introduction of large language models such as ChatGPT in late 2022, the firm said.
Sahil Verma, practice leader at LegalVision, said: “The growing number of businesses adopting ‘AI’ in their names increases the potential for trade mark disputes, particularly where companies operate in similar industries.
“Registering a company name with Companies House doesn’t automatically give a business the right to use that name commercially.”
Verma said businesses should search the UK trade mark register and check for existing brands with similar names before committing to a new identity.
“Simply adding ‘AI’ to an existing name may not be enough to distinguish it from another business,” he said. “A name that’s available to register isn’t necessarily a name that’s legally safe to use.”
He said that including “AI” in a company name is not necessarily unlawful, even where a business does not provide artificial intelligence services. “However, businesses could face legal risks if their branding or marketing creates a misleading impression about their capabilities,” he said.
“For example, advertising a service as ‘AI-powered’ when no artificial intelligence is involved could raise concerns under UK consumer protection law, depending on the circumstances.”
For companies that rebrand, Verma said checks should cover existing trade marks, contracts, websites and legal documents, as well as notifying customers and suppliers. “Where the underlying legal entity remains the same, existing contracts will generally continue, although some agreements may contain specific notification requirements,” he said.
Cambridge recorded the highest concentration of AI-named businesses between January 2023 and September 2026, with 66 among 7,736 new companies, or 85.3 per 10,000, according to the study.
Altrincham ranked second at 83.5 per 10,000, followed by Oxford at 76.6, Brighton at 75.8 and Oldham at 72.7.
London registered far more AI-named companies than anywhere else, at 1,425, but ranked eighth on the relative measure at 51.6 per 10,000. The figures exclude companies registered at high-volume formation agent and virtual office addresses, and LegalVision noted that a registered office may differ from where a business operates.
LegalVision analysed the Companies House Free Company Data Product snapshot dated 1 October 2026, which covered 5,704,711 companies on the register. It counted names using “AI” as a standalone word, an “.AI” brand name, “A.I.” or “Artificial Intelligence”.
Because the data includes only companies still on the register, and excludes AI businesses without the term in their name, the firm said its figures should be treated as minimums.
Amy Ingham
Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College’s journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel’s nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.
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