A new study from LendingTree reveals that 19.8% of U.S. businesses have used AI in the past few weeks, and 22.8% plan to adopt it in the next six months. But there’s a widening gap in AI adoption between large corporations and small businesses, suggesting the AI revolution isn’t arriving equally.
The report also contains good news for employees of all-sized businesses—their jobs seem to be safe for now, as companies report using AI more to supplement what their workers do, rather than to replace them. Despite widespread anxiety about AI displacing workers, the LendingTree data show that among AI-using businesses, 95.7% report no employment changes as a result of AI use.
Here’s more insight from the study, but it’s quite detailed, so I suggest you look at the report (linked above).
- Larger companies with 250 or more employees are adopting AI much faster, with usage rates nearly twice that of companies with fewer than 5 employees (37.3% versus 19.0%).
- Businesses are more than four times as likely to use AI to supplement employee tasks (43.7%) as to perform tasks previously done by employees (10.1%). They’re also about as likely (10.6%) to use AI for new tasks.
- Writing, not coding, dominates how employees use generative AI at work. Among businesses using generative AI, 85.4% report using it for emails, documents, or communications, while many also use it for information searches (49.9%) and document analyses (44.6%). Software coding or debugging is much less common, at just 12.7%.
- The main barrier to AI adoption is not cost or regulation, but rather a lack of relevance. Among businesses not planning to use AI, 61.6% say it doesn’t apply to their business. A lack of knowledge (22.0%) and privacy concerns (20.7%) follow, while cost (6.9%) and legal restrictions (2.8%) rank near the bottom.
Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief consumer finance analyst, says that the gap in AI adoption reflects a familiar dynamic. “Larger companies tend to have more money, more technical expertise, and sometimes even more room to experiment, which makes it easier for them to adopt AI quickly. Small businesses are often too busy running day-to-day operations to spend time evaluating new tools or training employees. The good news,” he continues, “is that smaller businesses can still learn from enterprises by starting with one or two high-impact use cases, such as customer communication or administrative work, instead of trying to overhaul everything at once.”
Among businesses planning to use AI in the next six months, sales and marketing (62.8%) and strategy (57.4%) are the most common target functions, followed by research and development (48.3%), information technology (47.3%), public relations and communication (43.8%), and customer service (40.0%).
Top Ways To Start Using AI in Your Business
Matt Schulz shares some insights on the best ways small businesses can start using AI.
- Identify one specific problem that wastes time or money, and test AI on that before expanding further.“Don’t spend on AI just to spend on it. Figure out ways that it can help your business, and then put it to work. And involve employees early. That way, you can ensure that the tools solve real problems.
- Don’t expect perfection. AI is amazing, but it can be wrong and a bit of a people-pleaser. Make sure that what it produces lives up to your company’s standards.
- Make training and oversight part of the process from day one.AI works best when employees understand how to use it effectively and where human judgment still matters. Set clear guidelines for reviewing AI-generated work, protecting sensitive information, and measuring results, so that the technology supports your business rather than creating new risks.
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