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The UK’s AI branding boom is accelerating, with new research revealing that the number of companies registering with ‘AI’ in their names has increased by more than 250% over the past two years.
That’s according to the business lawyers at LegalVision, who analysed current and historical Companies House data to explore the shifts in corporate preferences between 2019 and 2026.
Other key findings include:
- 3,183 new UK companies registered with ‘AI’ in their names during the first nine months of 2026, with another 1,272 predicted before the year ends.
- 2025 saw the biggest YoY increase in AI company registrations, at 174% against 2024.
- 250 businesses have rebranded to include “AI” in their name so far this year.
- Cambridge is the top spot for AI business registration, with 85.3 per 10,000 new companies mentioning “AI” in their name.
Sahil Verma, Practice Leader at LegalVision, comments on the growing number of businesses adopting AI-related names:
“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. 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. A name that’s available to register isn’t necessarily a name that’s legally safe to use.”
AI Companies Registered Per Year
| Year | AI-named companies (Jan–Sep) | All new companies (Jan–Sep) | AI companies per 10,000 new companies | Change in AI companies vs previous year (Jan–Sep) | AI-named companies (full year) |
| 2019 | 141 | 219,277 | 6.4 | 203 | |
| 2020 | 186 | 202,525 | 9.2 | 32% | 242 |
| 2021 | 176 | 221,493 | 7.9 | -5% | 237 |
| 2022 | 196 | 239,392 | 8.2 | 11% | 269 |
| 2023 | 597 | 307,831 | 19.4 | 205% | 855 |
| 2024 | 902 | 351,759 | 25.6 | 51% | 1,303 |
| 2025 | 2,467 | 537,218 | 45.9 | 174% | 3,435 |
| 2026 | 3,183 | 592,743 | 53.7 | 29% | Year in progress |
The number of AI companies registered has grown every year since 2022, when ChatGPT was released to the public, with registrations more than trebling in 2023. With 3,183 AI companies registered from Jan–Sep this year, the UK saw a rise of around 29% in the number of AI business registrations since the same period last year.
2025 saw the second biggest increase in AI business registrations since the previous year, after 2023 (205%). With 902 registered in the Jan–Sep period in 2024, and 2,467 within the same period of 2025, the country saw a significant rise of 174% in new AI company registrations. In total, the UK saw 3,435 new AI businesses last year. If the same pattern of growth is seen in the UK in Q4 of 2026, then we can expect to see around another 1,250 AI businesses.
These changes cannot be attributed to an overall rise in all business registrations in the UK, though this has seen an increase. From Jan–Sep 2025 (537,218 new businesses) to Jan–Sep 2026 (592,743), there was a 10.3% rise in company registration, about 19 percentage points below the rise in AI businesses (29% increase).
Companies Rebranding as AI Businesses
| Year of name change | Rebrands (Jan–Sep) | Rebrands (full year) | Change vs previous year (Jan–Sep) |
| 2019 | 16 | 19 | |
| 2020 | 22 | 26 | 38% |
| 2021 | 21 | 26 | -5% |
| 2022 | 22 | 26 | 5% |
| 2023 | 67 | 91 | 205% |
| 2024 | 88 | 133 | 31% |
| 2025 | 186 | 248 | 111% |
| 2026 | 250 | Year in progress | 34% |
Existing companies are also getting in on the hype around artificial intelligence. There were 250 company rebrands to include “AI” in their business name from Jan–Sep 2026, the highest to date, and a 34% rise from 2025’s 186.
From the widespread introduction of LLMs like ChatGPT in late 2022, at least 722 companies have rebranded to include “AI” in their name, with the most significant increase being in 2023, as rebrands rose by 205%.
However, while including ‘AI’ in a company name is not inherently unlawful, businesses could face legal risks if their branding creates a misleading impression about their products or services.
Sahil Verma explains:
“Simply including ‘AI’ in a company name isn’t necessarily unlawful, even if the business doesn’t directly provide artificial intelligence services.
“However, businesses could face legal risks if their branding or marketing creates a misleading impression about their capabilities. 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.
“Businesses should ensure any claims about their AI capabilities are accurate and supported by evidence. The legal risk isn’t necessarily in using ‘AI’ in your name, but in making promises about your technology that you can’t substantiate.”
Areas with the Most AI Business Registrations (Jan 2023 – Sep 2026)
| Rank | Area | AI-named companies | All new companies | AI companies per 10,000 new companies |
| 1. | Cambridge | 66 | 7,736 | 85.3 |
| 2. | Altrincham | 41 | 4,911 | 83.5 |
| 3. | Oxford | 31 | 4,048 | 76.6 |
| 4. | Brighton | 44 | 5,807 | 75.8 |
| 5. | Oldham | 51 | 7,018 | 72.7 |
| 6. | Bury | 19 | 3,501 | 54.3 |
| 7. | Milton Keynes | 57 | 10,724 | 53.2 |
| 8. | London | 1,425 | 276,372 | 51.6 |
| 9. | Bromley | 19 | 3,729 | 51.0 |
| 10. | Sutton Coldfield | 17 | 3,343 | 50.9 |
From Jan 2023 – Sep 2026, Cambridge has seen the most AI business registrations, relative to the number of overall new businesses. For every 10,000 companies registered in Cambridge, around 85 have “AI” in their name.
London places 8th in this metric. While it sees far more registrations of AI businesses overall (1,425, excluding companies registered at formation-agent addresses), there are fewer in relative terms, at 51.6 per 10,000 new companies.
For businesses considering adopting an AI-related name, LegalVision highlights the importance of conducting appropriate checks before committing to a new brand.
Sahil Verma adds:
“Rebranding involves more than updating a company’s name at Companies House. Businesses should check that their new name doesn’t infringe existing trade marks and consider registering their own trade mark to protect their brand.
“They should also review existing contracts, update their website and legal documents, and notify relevant customers, suppliers and other stakeholders of the change.
“Where the underlying legal entity remains the same, existing contracts will generally continue, although some agreements may contain specific notification requirements. Taking these steps early can help businesses avoid costly disputes and unnecessary disruption during a rebrand.”
Methodology
- LegalVision analysed the Companies House Free Company Data Product (snapshot dated 1 October 2026), covering all 5,704,711 companies on the UK register at that date.
- AI companies were identified as those with “AI” as a standalone word in their name (e.g. “Pocket AI Ltd”), an “.AI” brand name (e.g. “Coherent.AI Ltd”), “A.I.” on its own, or “Artificial Intelligence”. Names where “AI” forms part of another word (e.g. “Main”, “Air”) or a longer set of initials were excluded. Companies working in AI without “AI” in their name are not counted, so figures should be treated as minimums.
- Year-on-year comparisons use January to September of each year, as the data runs to 30 September 2026. As the data only includes companies still on the register, earlier years will be understated where companies have since closed; the “per 10,000 new companies” figure accounts for this.
- Rebrands are companies whose current name includes “AI” and whose most recent previous name did not, dated by the name change. A group of hotel companies renamed “AI (City) Limited”, where AI does not refer to artificial intelligence, was excluded.
- Area rankings are based on each company’s registered office post town, for companies incorporated from January 2023 to September 2026, ranked by AI-named companies per 10,000 new companies. Towns with fewer than 3,000 new companies were excluded, as were companies registered at high-volume formation agent and virtual office addresses (postcodes with 1,000+ new companies since 2023). Registered offices may differ from where a business operates.
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