How many businesses use AI: AI Adoption and Effect
The median published figure in the AI Adoption and Effect is 34 percent across 10 figures from 6 sources' own pages (range 15.10 to 88 percent), read 12 October 2026.
- 315 to 27
- 327 to 39
- 239 to 52
- 152 to 64
- 64 to 76
- 176 to 88
Bands
| Bucket | Value |
|---|---|
| 15 to 27 | 3 figures |
| 27 to 39 | 3 figures |
| 39 to 52 | 2 figures |
| 52 to 64 | 1 figure |
| 64 to 76 | 0 figures |
| 76 to 88 | 1 figure |
6 of the 16 named sources read in full publish a figure; 10 publish none, read 12 October 2026.
The median is up 5 percent since 26 September 2026 (was 29 percent across 4).
By jurisdiction and firm size and sector
| Breakdown | Median | Range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| jurisdictionUK | 30% | 30 to 30% | 1 |
| firm size250 or more employees | 51% | 51 to 51% | 1 |
| firm size10 or more employees | 38% | 38 to 38% | 1 |
| firm sizefewer than 10 employees | 29% | 29 to 29% | 1 |
| sectorinformation and communication | 60% | 60 to 60% | 1 |
Every figure, with its source
One row per published figure: the figure as the source's own page publishes it, the page, and the day it was read. A figure that is not on a page we read is not on this one.
| Source | Figure | Breakdown | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stanford HAI AI Index 2026, economy chapter | 88% | 2026-10-12 | |
| ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey | 60% | information and communication | 2026-10-12 |
| ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey | 51% | 250 or more employees | 2026-10-12 |
| Anthropic Economic Index, September 2025 report | 40% | 2026-10-12 | |
| ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey | 38% | 10 or more employees | 2026-10-12 |
| ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey | 30% | UK | 2026-10-12 |
| ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey | 29% | fewer than 10 employees | 2026-10-12 |
| US Census Bureau working paper, the microstructure of AI diffusion | 18% | 2026-10-12 | |
| US Census Bureau, large firms with at least 20 employees are the biggest AI users | 17% | 2026-10-12 | |
| Generative AI at Work, Quarterly Journal of Economics | 15.2% | 2026-10-12 | |
| Generative AI at Work, Quarterly Journal of Economics | 15% | 2026-10-12 |
The sentence each figure was read from (11)
- Stanford HAI AI Index 2026, economy chapter, read 2026-10-12:
Organizational AI adoption continued to rise in 2025, up to 88% of surveyed organizations, though AI agent use remains early.
- ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey, read 2026-10-12:
Around 6 in 10 (60%) businesses in the information and communication industry reported currently using an AI technology.
- ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey, read 2026-10-12:
Figure 1: 3 in 10 (30%) businesses reported using at least one type of AI technology in September 2026, rising to 51% for businesses with 250 or more employees
- Anthropic Economic Index, September 2025 report, read 2026-10-12:
In the US alone, 40% of employees report using AI at work, up from 20% in 2023 two years ago.1 Such rapid adoption reflects how useful this technology already is for a wide range of applications, its deployability on existing digital infrastructure, and its ease of use—by just typing or speaking—without specialized training.
- ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey, read 2026-10-12:
For businesses with 10 or more employees, 38% reported use of AI technologies, up 3 percentage points from June 2026 and 26 percentage points from September 2023.
- ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey, read 2026-10-12:
Around 3 in 10 (30%) of all businesses reported using at least one type of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in September 2026, with the proportion using AI steadily increasing since the question was introduced in September 2023 (9%); for businesses with 250 or more employees, the proportion was 51%, up 32 percentage points from September 2023 (19%).
- ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey, read 2026-10-12:
In comparison, only 29% of businesses with fewer than 10 employees reported using AI technologies.
- US Census Bureau working paper, the microstructure of AI diffusion, read 2026-10-12:
During the supplement reference period (Nov 2025-Jan 2026), 18% of firms used AI in a business function, rising to 32% on an employment-weighted basis; adoption is expected to reach 22% within six months.
- US Census Bureau, large firms with at least 20 employees are the biggest AI users, read 2026-10-12:
The BTOS data (December 2025 to May 2026) show that overall AI usage hovered between 17% and 20% — and that between 20% and 23% of businesses expected to be using it in the next six months.
- Generative AI at Work, Quarterly Journal of Economics, read 2026-10-12:
As we add controls, our effects fall slightly, so that with agent and tenure fixed effects, we find that the AI deployment increases RPH by 0.30 chats or 15.2%.
- Generative AI at Work, Quarterly Journal of Economics, read 2026-10-12:
In our setting, we find that access to AI-generated recommendations increases overall worker productivity by 15%, with even larger effects for lower-skill and novice agents.
Read in full, publishes no figure
10 named sources were read in full on the dates shown and print no usable figure. They are counted, never filled in.
- US Census Bureau Business Trends and Outlook Survey, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- US Census BTOS experimental data products, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- US Census Bureau BTOS data release, 23 April 2026, read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- US Census Bureau, BTOS artificial intelligence supplement, read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- BLS Beyond the Numbers, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- NBER working paper 31161, Generative AI at Work, read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- NBER Digest, measuring the productivity impact of generative AI, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- Anthropic Economic Index, March 2026 report, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- Anthropic Economic Index, June 2026 report, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- Anthropic Economic Index, new building blocks, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
Methodology
Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2).
6 of the 16 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 10 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere.
The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source for each breakdown it prices, in % (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences for one breakdown), so a page that gives figures for several breakdowns gives one for each and N counts 10 figures, never sentences; 368 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded.
The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): the official adoption rate as a SERIES rather than a headline - the same survey's biweekly waves lined up so the direction is visible - split by firm size and sector, set beside the measured productivity effect from the studies that ran a real workplace experiment.
The figures nobody publishes: the gap between the survey's firm-weighted rate and its employment-weighted rate (18% against 32% on the Census working paper's own read), which is the single most misquoted number in this market; the distance between what vendors claim and what the statistical agency measures; and, per role family, whether any measurement exists at all, which for most of the ten roles the calculator covers is the honest answer no.
368 candidate sentences on these pages were refused by a reviewer; each refusal and its reason is recorded in the review ledger.
Sources (16)
- US Census Bureau Business Trends and Outlook Survey(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- US Census BTOS experimental data products(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- US Census Bureau, large firms with at least 20 employees are the biggest AI users(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- US Census Bureau BTOS data release, 23 April 2026(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- US Census Bureau, BTOS artificial intelligence supplement(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- US Census Bureau working paper, the microstructure of AI diffusion(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS Beyond the Numbers(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- NBER working paper 31161, Generative AI at Work(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Generative AI at Work, Quarterly Journal of Economics(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- NBER Digest, measuring the productivity impact of generative AI(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Anthropic Economic Index, September 2025 report(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Anthropic Economic Index, March 2026 report(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Anthropic Economic Index, June 2026 report(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Anthropic Economic Index, new building blocks(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Stanford HAI AI Index 2026, economy chapter(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
Cite or embed this figure
The median published figure in the AI Adoption and Effect is 34 percent across 10 figures from 6 sources' own pages (range 15.10 to 88 percent), read 12 October 2026.
6 of the 16 named sources read in full publish a figure; 10 publish none, read 12 October 2026.
AI Adoption and Effect, jurisdiction UK: median 30 percent across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
AI Adoption and Effect, firm size 250 or more employees: median 51 percent across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
AI Adoption and Effect, firm size 10 or more employees: median 38 percent across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
AI Adoption and Effect, firm size fewer than 10 employees: median 29 percent across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
AI Adoption and Effect, sector information and communication: median 60 percent across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
The median is up 5 percent since 26 September 2026 (was 29 percent across 4).
Cite as: "aivshire.com AI Adoption and Effect", updated 2026-10-23, https://aivshire.com/datasets/ai-adoption-and-effect/.
Download the CSV (11 rows, computed 2026-10-23)