• The share of businesses currently using AI

• The share of businesses currently using AI to replace employee tasks

• The share of businesses planning to use AI within the next 6 months

• The share of businesses planning to use AI within the next 6 months to replace employee tasks

• The most common business use of AI

Report context:

AI has the potential to impact companies of all sizes and sectors—including small and local businesses. So far, larger businesses tend to be most likely to embrace AI technology. Among the largest firms—those with more than 250 employees—8.3% report using AI to produce their goods and services. Interestingly, however, the very smallest businesses also appear open to integrating AI into their work: businesses with one to four employees have the third-highest rate of AI adoption at 6.1%. These smaller companies are also the most likely to use AI to replace employee tasks.

While only around 5.5% of businesses report that they are currently using AI in the production of goods and services overall, AI adoption has been steadily increasing. This trend is expected to continue: just 3.7% of businesses were using AI 12 months ago, but 8.1% of firms report that they plan to use AI in the next six months.

Right now, 26.6% of the businesses already using AI are using it to replace employee tasks.

Ranking Methodology:

Using the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 Business Trends and Outlook Survey, researchers ranked U.S. states by the share of employer businesses that indicated they used AI in the production of goods or services in the previous two weeks. Some examples of AI include machine learning, natural language processing, virtual agents, and voice recognition.

Geographic and Industry-Related AI Adoption Trends:

• Firms in the South and Midwest tend to have the lowest rates of AI adoption. Western states, meanwhile, have higher rates of adoption than most of the country. Select Eastern states also rank highly.

• Some of this geographic divide may be driven by industrial factors. Fields like information (20.5%); professional, scientific, and technical (14.9%); and educational services (10.3%) are most likely to use AI, and those industries are also most common in the regions of the country where AI use in business is high.

• The fields that use AI the least include construction, transportation and warehousing, and accommodation and food services, all of which have less than 2% of firms using AI.

AI Adoption Among Georgia Businesses:

• In Georgia, 4.5% of businesses currently use AI.

• Of those, 26.9% use AI to replace employee tasks.

• An additional 6.2% of Georgia businesses are planning to adopt AI within the next six months.

Below is a complete data breakout for Georgia. The full results of the analysis include data on all 50 U.S. states.