According to new research from Snowflake, 93% of UK firms are already reaping efficiency gains from the adoption of generative artificial intelligence, outpacing the global average of 88% and highlighting the UK’s rapid embrace of the transformative tech.

The new Radical ROI of Generative AI report from Snowflake, in collaboration with Enterprise Strategy Group, surveyed nearly 2,000 business and IT leaders across nine different countries — all of whom are actively using GenAI for one or more use cases.

The findings indicate that UK organisations are approaching GenAI with clear intent, placing greater emphasis on operational efficiency and innovation than their peers internationally.

The research show 57% of UK early AI adopters cite efficiency gains as a key driver for adoption, compared to 51% in other countries. When it comes to innovation, 46% say it is a central motivator and a further 89% have seen this come to fruition with enhanced innovation, compared to 84% globally.

When it comes to where GenAI is being applied, UK organisations are utilising AI across a wide range of functions, with particular strengths in software development, customer service and cybersecurity. Specifically:

• In software engineering, 62% of UK respondents are using GenAI (compared with 54% globally), and 69% apply it to code reviews and debugging, higher than the 60% overall average.
• Cybersecurity adoption is also high, with 69% using GenAI in security operations. Among these, 64% report reduced manual workload, and 56% note lower operational costs — evidence of practical impact across IT and security teams.
• In customer support, 61% report active use of GenAI tools, with 59% seeing improvements in first response times.

UK organisations are also taking a leading role in customising AI models to suit their needs. Nearly all those surveyed (98%) say they are training, tuning or augmenting their LLMs.

Further, the UK leads in cloud infrastructure, with 47% of respondents reporting that their LLMs are hosted mostly or entirely in the cloud, tied with Germany and ahead of the global average.

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Speaking on the research’s results, James Hall, vice president and country manager UK&I at Snowflake, commented: “UK businesses are demonstrating what it looks like to turn early adoption of GenAI into real, measurable value.

“They’re not just experimenting — they’re building with purpose. With smart investments in cloud infrastructure and a focus on actionable use cases, the UK is laying the groundwork to lead the next phase of GenAI transformation.”