Artificial intelligence adoption is accelerating across Britain, but UK businesses are not moving at the same speed.
The latest Office for National Statistics data shows that around 35% of UK businesses with 10 or more employees reported using at least one AI technology in June 2026, up from around 12% in late 2023. Yet the depth of adoption remains limited: businesses using AI reported an average of only 1.6 AI technologies, and just 10% said they were using AI extensively.
The biggest differences appear between industries. Information and communication businesses are among the strongest adopters, while construction remains much further behind.
The result is a two-speed UK AI economy: some sectors are moving towards deeper integration, while others are still working out where AI fits.
Key Facts
- Around 35% of UK businesses with 10 or more employees reported using at least one AI technology in June 2026.
- The comparable figure was around 12% in late 2023.
- Information and communication businesses had one of the highest adoption rates, at 58%.
- Construction was among the lowest, at 13%.
- The average number of AI technologies used by adopting businesses increased only from about 1.4 to 1.6.
- Only 10% of AI-using businesses reported using AI extensively.
- Around 55% of employees reported using AI for work or education.
- Improving business operations is the most common reported purpose for business AI use.
- A separate UK Business Data Survey found AI use of 62% among information and communication businesses, 54% in professional, scientific and technical activities and 48% in finance and insurance.
- London reported higher AI use than several other UK regions in the 2026 Business Data Survey.
Table of Contents
- How much has AI adoption increased in the UK?
- Which UK industries are adopting AI fastest?
- Why is information and communication ahead?
- Where do finance and professional services stand?
- Why are some sectors still behind?
- Does using AI mean businesses are transforming?
- Is London pulling ahead of the rest of the UK?
- What are businesses actually using AI for?
- What is stopping UK businesses from adopting AI?
- Are businesses training workers for AI?
- Which UK sectors are being targeted by government AI plans?
- What does the data mean for Britain’s AI economy?
- The key takeaway
How much has AI adoption increased in the UK?
AI adoption among UK businesses has increased substantially since 2023.
The Office for National Statistics found that the share of businesses with 10 or more employees reporting use of at least one AI technology rose from around 12% in late 2023 to around 35% in June 2026.
That means the proportion has almost tripled over the period.
However, the headline figure needs context.
Adoption does not necessarily mean that AI has become deeply embedded within an organisation.
The ONS found that the average number of AI technologies used by adopting businesses increased only modestly, from around 1.4 to 1.6.
Only 10% of businesses using AI reported using it extensively.
That distinction matters because there is a difference between experimenting with a chatbot, using an AI feature inside existing software and redesigning an important business process around AI.
Which UK industries are adopting AI fastest?
Information and communication is one of the UK’s strongest AI-adopting industries.
ONS data for June 2026 found that 58% of businesses in information and communication reported using at least one AI technology.
Construction was at 13%.
The ONS also found that private-sector education and other knowledge-intensive industries had relatively high levels of AI use.
A separate UK Business Data Survey provides another view of the sector landscape.
Among UK businesses handling digitised data, it reported:
| Sector | Businesses reporting AI use |
|---|---|
| Information and communication | 62% |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 54% |
| Administrative and support services | 51% |
| Finance and insurance | 48% |
| Human health and social work | 46% |
The figures should not be treated as a single ranking because the surveys use different samples and methodologies. They do, however, point in the same broad direction: digitally intensive, knowledge-based and data-heavy sectors are among the UK’s stronger AI adopters.
Why is information and communication ahead?
The sector has several characteristics that make AI easier to deploy.
Businesses operating in software, telecommunications, digital services and related activities already depend heavily on data, cloud infrastructure and digital workflows.
The UK Business Data Survey found that 94% of businesses in information and communication handled digitised data.
The sector was also more likely than most others to report using non-personal data and to use public cloud infrastructure.
These conditions do not automatically cause AI adoption, but they can reduce some of the practical barriers to deployment.
AI is also closely related to the underlying work performed in the sector.
Software development, information processing, digital communication, search, analysis and customer interaction are all areas where AI tools can be incorporated into existing workflows.
The result is a sector in which AI can often be deployed through software rather than requiring major physical changes to factories, buildings or equipment.
Where do finance and professional services stand?
Finance and professional services are also important parts of Britain’s AI adoption story.
The UK Business Data Survey reported AI use among 48% of finance and insurance businesses and 54% of professional, scientific and technical businesses in its 2025–26 survey.
These sectors also have relatively sophisticated data practices.
Finance and insurance businesses, for example, reported high levels of data analysis, while professional and scientific businesses were among the sectors with comparatively high levels of digitised data use.
The government has also created a specific Financial Services AI Adoption Plan.
The plan identifies fraud detection, core operations and risk management among areas where AI is already reshaping UK financial services and sets out a framework intended to support wider adoption.
That means financial services is not simply an industry experimenting with consumer-facing generative AI.
It is becoming an important test case for how AI can be incorporated into highly regulated, data-intensive business processes.
Why are some UK sectors still behind?
AI adoption is not determined simply by whether a business is interested in the technology.
The structure of the industry matters.
Construction, for example, involves substantial physical activity, project-based work, equipment, sites and supply chains. Some AI applications can still be valuable, but the route to deployment is different from the route available to a software company.
The ONS found AI use of 13% among construction businesses in June 2026.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s AI Adoption Research also found significant differences between sectors.
Among businesses surveyed, information and communication had a much higher share of current AI users than construction, retail/distribution, transport/storage and hotel/catering.
The research found that many businesses in lower-adoption sectors either did not currently use AI or did not have plans to adopt it.
This suggests that the UK’s AI divide is partly an industry-structure problem rather than simply a technology-access problem.
Does using AI mean businesses are transforming?
Not necessarily.
This is one of the most important findings in the latest data.
The ONS found that businesses using AI had adopted an average of only 1.6 AI technologies in June 2026.
Only 10% of AI-using businesses reported using AI extensively.
The most common use of AI was improving existing business operations.
That points towards an incremental model of adoption.
A business might use AI to:
- summarise documents;
- draft correspondence;
- research information;
- process data;
- support customer service;
- create visual content;
- assist employees with routine tasks.
Those applications can be useful without changing the fundamental structure of the business.
The next stage is deeper integration.
The UK Business Data Survey found that only 21% of businesses using AI said their AI tools were integrated into existing business systems.
That figure rose to 57% among large businesses.
This suggests that the UK has made significant progress in AI access, but widespread AI integration is still developing.
Is London pulling ahead of the rest of the UK?
There is evidence of a regional difference, although it needs to be interpreted carefully.
The UK Business Data Survey found that 60% of businesses in London reported using AI, compared with 36% in the East of England, 38% in the North West and 41% in the South East.
The government cautions that regional differences may partly reflect differences in the size and sector composition of businesses in each area.
London’s economy has a particularly large concentration of financial services, professional services, technology businesses and other knowledge-intensive industries.
That makes a higher level of AI adoption unsurprising.
It also raises a wider question for Britain.
If AI adoption remains concentrated in London’s most digitally intensive industries, productivity improvements may not spread evenly across the country.
For the UK’s AI strategy, adoption outside the capital is therefore important as well as growth within established technology centres.
What are businesses actually using AI for?
AI adoption is still dominated by relatively practical applications.
The ONS found that improving business operations was the most commonly reported purpose.
The UK Business Data Survey found that researching information was the most commonly reported reason for using AI, followed by summarising or collecting internal information and drafting reports or correspondence.
Larger businesses were more likely to report specialised uses, including computer-code generation, customer-service chatbots and data analysis or modelling.
This suggests a progression in which businesses often begin with relatively accessible productivity applications before moving towards deeper operational integration.
That progression may become increasingly important as businesses move from experimentation to deployment.
What is stopping UK businesses from adopting AI?
The barriers are not purely technological.
ONS data identified difficulty identifying business use cases, cost and lack of expertise as recurring barriers in previous analysis.
The latest June 2026 data found that 41% of UK businesses with 10 or more employees reported no barriers to AI adoption during the relevant period.
Among businesses reporting barriers, lack of expertise was one of the most frequently cited problems.
This creates a skills challenge.
Buying an AI tool is relatively straightforward.
Knowing where it should be used, how its output should be checked, how company data should be protected and how it should be integrated into existing workflows is much harder.
For many businesses, AI adoption is therefore becoming an organisational capability issue rather than simply an IT purchasing decision.
Are UK businesses training workers for AI?
Training is emerging as one of the main responses to the skills gap.
The ONS found that businesses reporting a lack of AI expertise as a barrier were substantially more likely to train or retrain existing employees.
Across UK businesses with 10 or more employees, training or retraining existing staff was the most commonly reported approach to integrating AI-related skills.
However, the scale of training remains limited.
Only 11% of businesses reported that more than half of their workforce had received AI-related training.
That creates a potential bottleneck.
AI adoption can increase quickly at the software level, while employee capability develops more slowly.
The companies that move from experimentation to meaningful integration may therefore need to invest not only in software but also in training, governance and process redesign.
Which UK sectors are being targeted by government AI plans?
The government is increasingly treating AI adoption as a sector-specific challenge.
In June 2026, the government published AI adoption plans covering:
- advanced manufacturing;
- clean energy;
- creative industries;
- digital and technologies;
- life sciences;
- professional and business services.
The plans focus on barriers including skills, governance uncertainty, data access and the difficulty of scaling AI from pilots into sustained deployment.
Financial services has also received a dedicated AI Adoption Plan.
This approach reflects an important change in Britain’s AI strategy.
The question is no longer simply whether the UK can develop world-class AI technology.
It is whether organisations across different parts of the economy can actually deploy that technology productively.
What does the data mean for Britain’s AI economy?
The latest evidence suggests that Britain has moved beyond the earliest stage of AI adoption.
AI is no longer confined to technology companies.
Finance, professional services, healthcare, administration, education and other sectors are using AI in different ways.
But the UK has not reached a stage where AI is deeply embedded across the whole economy.
The difference between 35% business adoption and only 10% extensive use among AI adopters is particularly important.
It suggests that Britain’s next challenge is not simply increasing the number of companies that try AI.
It is increasing the depth and quality of implementation.
That means moving from:
AI access → experimentation → integration → organisational change → measurable outcomes.
The strongest sectors already have some of the infrastructure needed for that transition: digitised data, cloud systems, technical expertise and knowledge-intensive workflows.
The challenge for lower-adoption industries is different.
They may need clearer use cases, more accessible tools, workforce training and investment before AI becomes economically relevant at scale.
The key takeaway
UK AI adoption is growing quickly, but Britain does not have one single AI economy.
It has several different adoption patterns.
Information and communication businesses are near the leading edge. Professional services and finance are also relatively advanced, while sectors such as construction remain much further behind.
The most important finding, however, is that adoption does not automatically mean transformation.
The ONS data shows that the average AI-using business still uses relatively few AI technologies, while only a minority report extensive use.
Britain’s next AI challenge is therefore likely to be less about getting businesses to try artificial intelligence and more about helping them turn individual AI tools into reliable, integrated and productive business systems.
That is where the next phase of the UK’s AI economy will be decided.
Takeaways
Key facts
- UK business AI use rose from about 12% to 35% between late 2023 and June 2026 among businesses with 10+ employees.
- Information and communication recorded 58% AI use in ONS June 2026 data.
- Construction recorded 13%.
- Only 10% of AI-using businesses reported extensive use.
- AI-using businesses averaged only 1.6 AI technologies.
- 55% of employees reported AI use for work or education.
- The UK Business Data Survey reported 62% AI use in information and communication.
- London reported 60% AI use in that survey, although the government warns that sector and business-size composition can affect regional differences.
FAQ
1. How many UK businesses use AI in 2026?
Around 35% of UK businesses with 10 or more employees reported using at least one AI technology in June 2026, according to the ONS.
2. Which UK industry uses AI the most?
Information and communication is among the strongest-adopting UK industries. ONS data recorded 58% of businesses in the sector using AI in June 2026.
3. Which UK industry has the lowest AI adoption?
Construction was among the lowest adopters in the ONS June 2026 data, at 13%.
4. Is AI adoption increasing in the UK?
Yes. ONS data shows reported business AI use increased from around 12% in late 2023 to around 35% in June 2026.
5. Are UK businesses using AI extensively?
Most are not. The ONS found that only 10% of businesses using AI reported using it extensively.
6. What do UK businesses use AI for?
Improving business operations is the most commonly reported purpose. Businesses also use AI for research, summarising information, drafting documents, data processing and other tasks.
7. Is London ahead of the rest of the UK in AI adoption?
The UK Business Data Survey found higher reported AI use among London businesses than in several other regions, but the government cautions that differences in business size and sector composition may influence the results.
8. What is preventing UK businesses from adopting AI?
Common barriers include lack of AI expertise, difficulty identifying useful business applications and cost.
9. Are UK businesses training employees in AI?
Training and retraining existing employees is one of the main ways businesses are integrating AI skills, although only 11% of businesses reported that more than half of their workforce had received AI-related training.
10. What is the biggest challenge for UK AI adoption?
The evidence suggests the next challenge is moving from basic experimentation to deeper integration into business systems, workflows and workforce practices.
