Small-firm AI use doubles to 47%, but only 19% feel confident

Almost half of UK small business owners now use artificial intelligence tools, according to research published on 8 September by the insurer Simply Business.

Its 2026 SME Insights Report puts adoption at 47 per cent, up from 22 per cent in 2025. A further 13 per cent expect to start within six to 12 months, taking the combined figure to 61 per cent.

The company says the report draws on a survey of UK small business owners carried out between 30 July and 7 August 2026, alongside earlier studies conducted during the year. It has not disclosed how many owners were surveyed.

What those owners actually do with the technology is narrower than the headline number suggests. Among users, 63 per cent create content with it, 53 per cent use it for problem solving and 50 per cent for generating ideas. Some 46 per cent say it saves them time on administration.

Confidence has not moved at the same speed. Just 19 per cent describe themselves as "very confident" using AI day to day, and 33 per cent say they use it only for routine administrative tasks.

The barriers are about trust and purpose rather than access. Security and privacy concerns were cited by 44 per cent of owners, not seeing a clear use for AI by 39 per cent, and worries about accuracy by 36 per cent.

Nearly one in three, 31 per cent, say they do not understand how to use AI or are wary of putting it into their work. Simply Business reads that as a skills gap rather than a technology gap.

Larger firms are further along. Research published in March by the Centre for Economics and Business Research for HSBC UK found 55 per cent of mid-sized companies using AI in some form by the end of 2025, up from about 35 per cent two years earlier.

Julie Fisher, Simply Business's chief executive, said the rise in adoption was one of the most significant shifts tracked in this year's report, but that many owners remained wary of security and privacy and unsure how the tools could help them. She called for tailored guidance, accessible tools and time for owners to experiment.

Some of that guidance already exists. Google began running free AI workshops for small firms with the Department for Business and Trade and NatWest in 2025, after its own research found UK small businesses behind US counterparts on adoption.

Founders quoted in the research describe the support as patchy. Ideja Bajra, founder of the advisory firm Edvance AI, said government upskilling initiatives were encouraging but that the support "can sometimes feel fragmented".

For a founder, the useful number here is not 47 per cent but 33 per cent: the share of adopters who have got no further than admin. Doubling adoption in a year has not produced a doubling of capability, and the constraint owners themselves name is knowing what the tools are for.

That makes the competitive gap a matter of application rather than access. The tools are already in half the market's hands; the 19 per cent who are confident using them are the ones worth measuring against.

More: Simply Business