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Claim check

“66% of small businesses use AI”

The figure is in the source, a 2026 online survey for the US Chamber of Commerce, a business lobby that argues against state AI laws in the same report. The report does not say how firms were recruited or weighted. Other US counts of the same kind of firm, made in other ways, are far lower.

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The source exists, but the claim gets the year, the population or the wording wrong.

The claim

66% of small businesses use AI.

What the primary source says

The US Chamber of Commerce’s technology centre publishes a yearly report on small businesses and technology. Teneo Research ran the survey.

  • The figure. “Two-thirds of small businesses (66%) now use AI, up 8 points from 2025 (58%) and nearly 3 times the share using it in 2023 (23%).”
  • Who was asked. The report says Teneo surveyed 3,732 US small businesses, defined as firms with fewer than 250 employees. The data were collected online in five waves, the latest from 23 July to 6 August 2026.
  • What is missing. The report does not say how firms were recruited, whether answers were weighted, or how many firms that were asked chose to answer.
  • Who stands behind it. The Chamber is a business lobby. The same report calls for “eliminating a state AI patchwork” and a national AI framework that could override state AI laws.

What is wrong with the claim

  • It is a survey answer for a lobby with a stated aim. The report uses the figure to argue against state AI regulation. Name the sponsor when you cite it.
  • The firms answering look unusually healthy. 89% of AI users said their sales grew in the past year. So did 82% of firms that do not use AI.
  • Other counts of US firms are far lower. Each one measures something different:
SourceWhat it countsFigure
US Chamber of Commerce, online survey, 2026Firms with fewer than 250 employees that say they use AI66%
Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey, September – November 2025Employer firms with 1–499 employees whose business or staff were using AI for work46%
JPMorganChase Institute, bank records, 4.6 million firmsSmall firms that had ever paid an AI provider, by the end of 202517.7%
US Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey, to 3 May 2026Firms with four or fewer employees that reported using AIUnder 20%

The other three have limits too. The Federal Reserve’s survey is not a random sample, though it is weighted. Its question counts AI features inside software the firm already uses. Chase sees only paid services, so free tools are missing. The Census Bureau changed its question in November 2025, from AI used “in producing goods or services” to AI used “in any business function”.

None of these figures is the true one. Each answers a different question. Quote a figure with its source and what was asked.

What to cite instead

In a 2026 online survey of US firms with fewer than 250 employees, run by Teneo Research for the US Chamber of Commerce, which campaigns against state AI laws, 66% said they used AI. Other US counts are lower: 46% of employer firms in the Federal Reserve Banks’ 2025 survey, 17.7% of firms that had paid an AI provider by the end of 2025 in Chase bank records, and under 20% of firms with four or fewer employees in the US Census Bureau’s survey.

Sources

  1. US Chamber of Commerce Technology Engagement Center and Teneo Research (2026). Empowering Small Business: The Impact of Technology on U.S. Small Business. Report. uschamber.com
  2. Federal Reserve Banks (2026). Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms. Findings from the 2025 survey. fedsmallbusiness.org
  3. JPMorganChase Institute, Wheat, Mac and Passalacqua (14 April 2026). Understanding the use of AI among small businesses. Based on Chase business bank account records. jpmorganchase.com
  4. US Census Bureau, Grundy, Breaux and Khatiwoda (26 May 2026). Large firms with at least 20 employees biggest AI users. Story on the Business Trends and Outlook Survey. census.gov
  5. Federal Reserve Banks (2026). Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms. Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey (published March 2026). What this study did and found
  6. Wheat, Mac and Passalacqua (JPMorganChase Institute) (2026). Understanding the use of AI among small businesses. JPMorganChase Institute, published 14 April 2026. What this study did and found
  7. Bonney, Breaux, Dinlersoz, Foster, Haltiwanger and Pande (2026). The Microstructure of AI Diffusion: Evidence from Firms, Business Functions, and Worker Tasks. US Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies Working Paper CES-WP-26-25 (April 2026). What this study did and found