UK Small Firms Ramp Up AI Spending, Led by Claude and ChatGPT
New research says AI adoption among UK small and medium businesses rose sharply, with many firms using several platforms and Anthropic's Claude narrowly ahead of ChatGPT.
According to TechRadar, roughly one in eight UK small and medium-sized businesses now pay for AI tools. The outlet reports that the figure reflects a steep climb from about 1.1 percent in 2023 to 12.8 percent in 2026, based on new research.
The study was conducted by Capital on Tap, a provider of small business credit cards, and is cited by TechRadar as the source of the findings. The research indicates that smaller firms are not limited to a single product. More than 28 percent of the businesses surveyed use two or more AI platforms, a pattern the report describes as firms spreading their bets.
TechRadar says Anthropic's Claude narrowly outpaced OpenAI's ChatGPT in the research, with both companies drawing significant spending from these firms. The average quarterly outlay on these tools has also grown, according to the outlet's summary.
Publishing stands out as the main UK sector adopting AI, TechRadar reports. The coverage does not provide a full breakdown of other industries, nor does it detail the exact methodology beyond the headline figures.
Background
Small and medium-sized enterprises make up the bulk of business activity in most economies, but they have historically lagged larger companies in adopting new enterprise technology. Cost, staff time and uncertainty about return on investment have often slowed them down. Cloud software and online payments followed a similar path, moving from specialist use to everyday tools over a decade or more.
Generative AI changed that pattern quickly. Chatbots and writing assistants require little setup, often charge modest monthly fees, and can be used without a dedicated technical team. That lowers the barrier for a sole trader or a company with a few employees. Many providers offer tiered plans, which makes it easier for small firms to test several products before committing.
Multi-vendor use is a familiar behavior in technology buying. Businesses often combine tools for different tasks, such as drafting, coding assistance, research or customer messaging, and switch when a product fits a particular job better. Pricing that is charged per seat or per usage can make costs rise as adoption spreads inside an organization.
Industry sectors adopt new tools at different speeds depending on how much of their work involves text, images or information. Media and publishing work is heavily text-based, which may explain why such firms move early. Surveys of this kind are typically commissioned by companies with a commercial interest in small business spending, so readers should weigh headline figures with that in mind.
Why it matters
For UK small firms, the findings suggest that AI is shifting from a curiosity to a line item in the budget. When a business starts paying for a tool, it begins to depend on that tool for real work, and the choice of provider can shape how that work gets done. A rise in adoption on this scale could change how quickly productivity gains spread through the economy beyond large corporations.
The competition between Anthropic and OpenAI is also significant for the vendors. Being chosen by many small businesses offers recurring revenue and a foothold in a market that tends to be loyal once habits form. It also means that small firms may become a proving ground for features aimed at everyday users rather than enterprise buyers.
There are open questions about the depth of this adoption. Paying for a subscription does not automatically mean the tool is delivering value, and a firm using several platforms may be duplicating effort. Smaller businesses also tend to have less capacity to assess data handling, accuracy and contract terms, which raises the stakes for careful choices.
Finally, the figures carry implications for skills and training. If AI tools become standard in small offices, staff will need guidance on when to trust outputs and when to check them. Policymakers and industry bodies may find that support for small firms becomes as important as the technology itself.
What to watch
Watch whether the adoption trend holds in independent surveys from other research groups, since a single study from a commercial lender provides only one view. Look for details on how the sample was chosen and how the spending figures were measured.
Pay attention to pricing changes from Anthropic and OpenAI, particularly any plans aimed at small teams. Shifts in cost could determine whether multi-platform use continues or consolidates.
Also consider how sectors beyond publishing respond over the coming year, and whether UK government or trade groups launch programs to help small firms adopt AI safely.
Viewpoints
Commentary from our columns: three angles on this story.
The Skeptic open questions and weak points
Before we celebrate a jump from 1.1 percent to 12.8 percent, it is worth asking what the number actually measures. A figure like this often rests on a sample of firms that agreed to respond, and the people who answer surveys about spending may be those already convinced of the technology. The study comes from a company that lends to small businesses, which does not make its findings false, but it does mean the question of who benefits from a headline about rising AI spend deserves a moment of thought.
The multi-platform finding is also more complicated than it sounds. A business paying for two or three AI tools may have found a genuine use for each, or it may have signed up for trials that quietly converted to subscriptions and never got reviewed. Spending is not the same as productivity. Until we see evidence of what these tools deliver for a bakery, a print shop or a design studio, the numbers describe enthusiasm more than results. That is not a reason to dismiss the trend, only a reason to ask for the second half of the story.
The User what changes for people who use it
For the person running a five-person firm, the practical question is simple: what changes on Monday morning? The likely answer is modest. Someone drafts an email faster, someone summarizes a long document, someone asks a chatbot to reword a product description. Those are real gains, but they arrive unevenly, and they often depend on whether staff were given any guidance at all.
Paying for two platforms can also create confusion. Employees may not know which tool to use for which job, or whether client information belongs in one system and not another. The businesses that benefit most will likely be those that write down a few simple rules, decide which tasks suit AI, and check outputs before they reach customers. Adoption at this scale means many people are now learning these habits on the job, often without formal training. That is where the real change happens, and it deserves more attention than the choice between brand names.
The Rulebook privacy, safety and regulation
When a small business starts pasting customer details, invoices or staff records into an AI tool, it takes on responsibilities that are easy to overlook. Data protection obligations in the UK apply regardless of company size, and most small firms are not in a position to audit how a vendor stores or uses what they upload. Reading the terms of service is a sensible first step, but those documents are often long and written for legal teams, not for owners running a shop.
The growth in multi-platform use makes this harder. Each new tool is another place where information may travel, and another set of settings that someone needs to check. Regulators and trade bodies have a role here, especially in offering plain-language guidance that small firms can actually use. Adoption will keep rising whether or not the rules keep up, so the gap between usage and understanding is worth closing sooner rather than later. Trust in these tools should be earned through clear practices, not assumed because the software is popular.