Enterprise AI in Numbers · Adoption and spend
Share of US businesses expecting to use AI in the next six months
28.6%
28.6% as of October 18, 2026, according to US Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey, up from 27.7% on October 4, 2026. Share of businesses that expect to use artificial intelligence to produce goods or services in the next six months, as estimated by the US Census Bureau.
What it means for leaders
More businesses plan to use AI than use it today, so the gap between plans and production is the adoption still to come. Sectors where plans run far ahead of use are where vendors and talent will be most contested.
What would change the reading: Plans falling while current use stays flat, a sign that pilots are stalling.
The trend
By sector
Every reading
| Date | Value | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28.6% | +0.9 points | Source | |
| 27.7% | +0.1 points | Source | |
| 27.6% | +0.3 points | Source | |
| 27.3% | +1.4 points | Source | |
| 25.9% | ±0.0 points | Source | |
| 25.9% | +1.6 points | Source | |
| 24.3% | −0.2 points | Source | |
| 24.5% | +0.8 points | Source | |
| 23.7% | −0.2 points | Source | |
| 23.9% | +0.2 points | Source | |
| 23.7% | +1.0 points | Source | |
| 22.7% | −0.1 points | Source | |
| 22.8% | −0.2 points | Source | |
| 23.0% | +0.5 points | Source | |
| 22.5% | +0.2 points | Source | |
| 22.3% | +0.5 points | Source | |
| 21.8% | +0.8 points | Source | |
| 21.0% | −1.1 points | Source | |
| 22.1% | ±0.0 points | Source | |
| 22.1% | −0.3 points | Source | |
| 22.4% | +1.1 points | Source | |
| 21.3% | +0.4 points | Source | |
| 20.9% | −0.2 points | Source | |
| 21.1% | — | Source |
Definition and method
- What it measures
- Share of businesses that expect to use artificial intelligence to produce goods or services in the next six months, as estimated by the US Census Bureau.
- Population
- US employer businesses responding to the Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey
- Updated
- Every two weeks
- Source
- US Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey · Public domain (US government work)
Caveats
- Expectations usually run ahead of actual use; compare with the current-use series.
- Sector figures come from smaller samples and move more from one survey round to the next.
Cite this
Enterprise AI in Numbers, "Share of US businesses expecting to use AI in the next six months", https://lucianoayres.com/ai-brief/data/us-business-ai-plans/, retrieved October 25, 2026. Data: US Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey.