
Small Firms Bet on AI for Efficiency, Facing Price Booms and Pitfalls
Small businesses are increasingly using AI to cut costs and speed operations, with 58% of SMBs adopting AI in 2025 (up from 23% in 2023). While AI aids tasks from marketing to customer service, it also creates new expenses, missteps, and reliance on external software. Per‑employee spending among firms with 0–49 workers rose from about $607 in 2025 to an expected $1,034 in 2026, and many companies use multiple AI services, prompting budgeting and guardrails like spending limits to avoid price shocks and overdependence.












