The recent explosion of interest around artificial intelligence across the business community could help drive increased merger and acquisition activity in the year ahead, according to analysts who track dealmaking trends.

After a slowdown that began in 2022 and continued into 2023, M&A activity might be poised for a turnaround this year, amid factors such as stabilizing interest rates, cooling inflation and a growing fear among companies about being left behind in the race for acquiring new AI capabilities, analysts said.