Small business AI adoption rose sharply among U.S. owners in 2026, including those in rural areas, but a lack of technical expertise remains a barrier to deeper use, a Goldman Sachs report found.

Key Takeaways

  • AI adoption among rural small business owners reached 80% in 2026, up from 47% in 2024.
  • Among graduates of Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses program, usage rose to 86% in 2026.
  • Standalone chatbots were far more common than agentic AI or custom-built tools.

Small business AI use shifts toward everyday tools

Among program graduates, AI usage increased from 56% in July 2024 to 77% in 2025 and 86% in 2026. The figures describe the program’s graduates and should not be taken as a measure of every U.S. small business.

Of small business owners who use AI, 86% rely on standalone generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Another 54% use AI features built into existing software, including QuickBooks AI Agents and Microsoft 365 Copilot.

More advanced tools were less common: 18% used agentic AI, 19% used AI coding tools and 12% used custom-built solutions. Among owners using AI, 63% used it daily, while 73% either used free tools or spent less than $100 a month.

Rural and industry differences

The report identified education and technical expertise as important to helping rural owners make fuller use of AI. Rural alumni were less likely than non-rural counterparts to use it for customer relationship management, at 16% versus 28%.

Service-based businesses reported deeper integration into core operations and more frequent daily use than product-based businesses. The latter had a higher share of recent adopters who began using AI within the previous 12 months.

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