What happened
The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) published the second wave of its annual AI Adoption Survey. Headline finding: "AI adoption doubled since 2025. In 2026, one-third of UK businesses were using at least one AI technology (32% compared to 16% in 2025)." The research used a quantitative CATI survey of 3,503 UK businesses (fieldwork 7 January–21 April 2026), 50 in-depth follow-up interviews and 7 ethnographic case studies. The main driver of adoption was improving efficiency and productivity (71%), 50% of adopters reported an overall increase in productivity though gains were generally described as modest, and only 14% of businesses considered AI tools of high or critical importance to their operations. Capability barriers dominated — limited AI skills, expertise or knowledge affected 67% of adopters and 78% of those planning to adopt; 65% of non-adopters cited a lack of clear business case or proven ROI. 65% of businesses anticipated an increase in AI-related budgets.
Why it matters
This is the UK government's baseline evidence on the real state of enterprise AI adoption and the structural skills/ROI barriers — directly useful for benchmarking an organisation's own adoption trajectory and for anticipating policy interventions.
Action needed
Benchmark your organisation's AI adoption depth and progress against the UK national averages (32% adoption, productivity gains, skills/business-case barriers) and address the capability gaps the survey identifies.