Data from YouGov’s quarterly Business Sentiment Tracker reveals attitudes to the technology among SMEs and larger organisations varies heavily.
What role is artificial intelligence (AI) playing in UK enterprises, and what role will it play in future? Widely discussed questions, and ones with variable answers: some have said the technology will increase operational efficiencies, replace outdated software, better integrate existing software, and reduce headcount (among other things).
But have any of these potential applications made businesses more likely to embrace the technology? Data from YouGov’s Business Sentiment Tracker indicates that the answer is yes – up to a point. Just one in nine business decision makers say they have fully embraced AI (11%), but three in ten (31%) say they are using it in some part of their work.
Another quarter say they are experimenting with it (24%), while 7% say they are considering its use. A quarter of business decision makers (26%) say they are not contemplating using AI, or that it is not relevant to their work.
Willingness to embrace AI varies based on business size. One in six (17%) larger businesses say they have fully embraced it compared to just 6% of SMEs, and they’re also more likely to say they’re using the technology in some part of their work (41% vs. 26%). Bigger businesses are also less likely to say they are not considering it or it is not relevant (8% vs. 40%).
Do UK business decision makes think AI is important for future growth?
Casting an eye towards the future, we asked businesses whether they think AI will be important or unimportant to their growth.
A third say it is important, but two in five say that it is not (42% vs. 33%). SMEs are slightly less likely to say it matters to their future (30% vs. 45%), but larger businesses with 250+ employees are twice as likely to say it is important to their growth (61% vs. 15%).
Survey methodology:
Data is based on a survey of 2,004 business decision makers conducted 1st April to June 30th 2026. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of British business size, region and industry.
Sentiment methodology:
Respondents were asked a series of questions assessing their sentiment towards the UK economic outlook, their industry, their own business outlook, and expectations for key business indicators over the next 12 months (including revenue, profit margins, employment levels and operating costs), as well as their confidence in their business’s ability to adapt to change. Responses to each question were converted into a sentiment score and an overall score was calculated by taking the average of each.
