The AI ambitions of UK businesses show no signs of slowing, with recent research showing the majority of organisations fully integrating AI tools into their workflows, with the tech ranked as ‘vital as water and energy’.

However, a new YouGov survey has revealed that most of the UK’s smaller firms are still resisting the AI temptation. 

Polling more than 1,000 SME decision-makers about their approach to AI, YouGov found that less than a third of British SMEs currently use AI, despite 86% being familiar with artificial intelligence and the benefits it might bring, with 51% of SMEs not using AI and having no plans to do so.

Unsurprisingly, the most enthusiastic tech adopters are IT and telecoms firms (56%), followed by those in media, marketing, and advertising (53%), while those in manufacturing (19%), hospitality (18%) and real estate (11%) are a long way behind.

Among those regularly turning to AI, more than half are using the tech for task automation (54%), while nearly as many use it for marketing or advertising (45%), but despite the sophistication of chatbots and the growing reliance on customer facing AI by bigger firms, only 31% of SMEs are using it to power their customer service operations.

YouGov found that privacy, scepticism, and ethics concerns are holding back adoption. Of those businesses not planning to use AI, half pointed to concerns around data privacy and security (49%), while one in five (19%) are put off by ethical concerns.

Despite the huge amount of research emerging surrounding the benefits of AI, 30% of UK SMEs said they were not planning to integrate the technology simply because they don’t see the value in it.

Even among the adopters, YouGov found nerves remaining. Almost half (48%) worry that AI could negatively affect employees’ critical thinking skills, while 58% are concerned that leaning too heavily on AI could reduce business creativity.

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Others are being put off from investing more because of the legal risks (42%) or the threat of job losses (34%) AI might create, worries perhaps being fuelled by the sources of decision-makers information.  

More than half (57%) get their information from online news sources, and almost as many use social media (48%), with industry publications (35%), conferences (27%), and consultants (27%) being used much less.

YouGov said that the results show most UK SMEs are taking a wait-and-see approach to AI, hoping to benefit in the long term but avoid emerging risks that bigger players can afford to take. As AI continues to become firmly embedded across operations, however, adoption could start to pick up pace as competition for AI-powered ROI heats up.