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Short answer: it depends on the question. The U.S. Census Bureau says 17% to 20% of all U.S. businesses used AI in their operations between December 2025 and May 2026. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says 58% of small businesses use generative AI. Both can be true, because they count different things, in different years, in different ways. Neither number tells you what to do on Monday.
Kevin D'Ambros-Smith is a business coach and advisor who has coached 200+ businesses one-on-one across 30+ industries since 2017, after a career at DDB, Ogilvy and Saatchi and Saatchi and founding nine companies. He works with US owners online. Every source below was opened on 2 November 2026, and anything we could not confirm was left out.
Last updated 2 November 2026. Market: United States.
The Census Bureau asks a standard question through its Business Trends and Outlook Survey: did the business use AI in producing goods or services in the last two weeks? Its May 2026 analysis covers 14 December 2025 to 3 May 2026 and finds overall use stayed between 17% and 20%. It also finds that less than 20% of firms with four or fewer employees reported using AI, and that use rose with size: 32% of firms with 100 to 249 employees and 37% of firms with 250 or more.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce report, published in August 2025, says 58% of small businesses use generative AI, up from 40% in 2024. The page we read does not state the sample size or the survey date, so treat it as a directional signal from a trade association, not a census. Never put the two figures side by side as if they measured the same thing.
The Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy counts 36,207,130 small businesses in the United States as of February 2026, employing 62.3 million people, or 45.9% of private-sector workers. The Census Bureau finds that fewer than one in five of the smallest firms, those with four or fewer employees, used AI in their operations. So the honest reading is that the smallest businesses are far from universal adopters, whatever the headline says. Whether you join them is a decision about where AI fits in your week, not a race.
That matters because being early does not help if you point AI at the wrong problem. A faster way to write emails does nothing for an owner whose real constraint is that not enough qualified leads enter the funnel.
Start with one number, then put AI behind it. In his Know Your Numbers training, Kevin shows a mountain bike park client that needed 730 season passes to hit its target. Three hundred of last year's 400 holders would renew, which left 430 to sell in 10 weeks: 43 a week, or 6 a day. As Kevin puts it, "Suddenly you can get on the phone and make six sales a day. Suddenly it's an achievable number."
The same logic works for AI. Pick the one daily action that moves your number, then ask what could take the grind out of it. For the owner who needs to contact five potential customers a day, that might mean an AI assistant that drafts the first version of each personal message from your notes, so that you spend your time on the conversation. You still check every message and you still send it yourself.
We have not quoted a time saving because we have no sourced figure for your business. Your two-week baseline is the only number that counts.
AI is the wrong first move when you do not yet know your constraint. If margin is thin, customers cannot say why you are different, or the offer is not clear, AI will help you do the wrong thing faster. In the same training Kevin says, "Revenue is flattery, margin is sanity." Check the margin and the funnel first, then decide whether AI belongs in the fix. That is the order Kevin follows with every owner he coaches: find the real constraint, fix it, and only then add tools.
The U.S. Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey found overall AI use stayed between 17% and 20% from December 2025 to May 2026. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported in August 2025 that 58% of small businesses use generative AI. The two measure different things and should not be compared directly.
The Census Bureau reports that less than 20% of firms with four or fewer employees used AI, and that use rises with firm size. The sources we read do not explain why, so we do not guess.
The one that sits behind the number you most need to move, such as follow-up on leads or the first draft of a customer message. Test one use case for two weeks and measure your own result.
No. AI can speed up tasks. It cannot tell you which constraint is holding the business back. A coach helps you choose the right problem first.
Yes. Kevin works with US owners online, and the free 30-minute call runs across US time zones.
Book a free 30-minute call with Kevin. It runs online and works across US time zones. You will leave with one number to aim at and one place to try AI first.
Simple-Growth publishes this guide. Census and Chamber figures are quoted from the pages linked above; the Know Your Numbers example is from Kevin's own training. This is general information, not financial or legal advice.
Kevin and The Simple-Growth Team
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