India, April 8 -- A growing number of consumers are asking ChatGPT and Google's AI for professional recommendations instead of relying on word of mouth. The shift is quietly reshaping which professionals get clients and which ones get overlooked.

The way people find professional services providers is changing faster than most professionals realise. For decades, the referral model dominated: you asked a friend, a colleague, or a family member for a recommendation, and that recommendation carried enough trust to close the decision. The professional on the receiving end never had to market themselves. Their reputation travelled through networks.

That model is not gone, but it is no longer the whole picture. Research from multiple consultin...