Observed Signal · Jul 10, 2026 · Survey Release · Source: https://martechseries.com/feed/ · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
SMBs Increase AI Adoption; 70% Report Training Gaps
A July 10, 2026 press release summarizes the 2026 AI and Small Business Adoption Survey conducted by Thryv. The survey of 561 U.S. small and mid-sized business owners found AI adoption rose to 66% (from 55% a year earlier), while 70% of owners say they need more training to use AI effectively. Respondents reported measurable business benefits—70% said AI increased revenue and 55% said it reduced costs—while many are still relying on piecemeal training sources (ChatGPT, YouTube/social media, webinars). One-third of SMBs are spending more on AI than 12 months prior and 53% spend at least $100/month on AI tools. The release highlights a skills gap that vendors, training providers, and local marketing platforms will need to address as SMBs scale AI usage.
Provides timely, quantitative data on SMB AI adoption and the skills gap—useful to MarTech/AdTech vendors, training providers, and local marketing platforms—but is not a platform policy or major technical release that would shift the whole industry.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Thryv’s 2026 AI and Small Business Adoption Survey polled 561 U.S. small and mid-sized business owners and decision-makers (all non-Thryv customers).
- AI adoption among U.S. small businesses rose to 66% in 2026, up from 55% a year ago.
- 70% of surveyed small business owners said they need more training to use AI effectively.
- 70% reported AI increased their revenue over the past year; 55% said AI reduced costs.
- 53% of SMBs spend at least $100 per month on AI tools; one-third are spending more on AI than 12 months earlier.
Connected Companies & Entities
4 Entities mapped“This data comes from the 2026 AI and Small Business Adoption Survey from Thryv®, a leading AI-enabled marketing platform for local service b...”
“Author: Business Wire...”
“MarTech Series is a leading publishing platform that provides daily updates on marketing technology news......”
““The Thryv findings align with a recent Goldman Sachs survey in which 73% of small businesses said they need additional training to fully le...”
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Clutch: SMBs Move Beyond AI Experimentation
Clutch research of 600 U.S. small businesses finds that 59% of AI-using small businesses qualify as AI adoption Leaders per Clutch’s AI Maturity Index. The survey reports that 83% of respondents see positive outcomes from AI and 81% say AI contributed to revenue growth. Many small businesses are investing in AI — 53% have a dedicated AI budget and half spend $50–$500/month on AI tools — and larger small businesses (101–200 employees) show higher maturity. Gaps remain: only 54% have a formal AI strategy or clean organized data and 38% lack formal AI-use guidelines. Future plans include adoption of AI agents (62%), integrations with business software (46%), and more use for data analysis (42%).
Adobe Study: Small Businesses Use AI for Social Media
A new study from Adobe’s Firefly team surveying over 400 small-business owners finds widespread adoption of AI-powered content tools for social media. The research reports 38% of respondents use AI for social media content creation (saving an estimated 175 hours and £4,500 annually) and 28% use AI for social advertising (saving about 67 hours yearly). Fifty-two percent said AI-generated imagery positively impacted social engagement, with the largest reported gains being likes/reactions (23%), profile visits (20%) and reach/impressions (15%). Platforms with the strongest reported impact were Facebook (51%), Instagram (30%) and business websites/blogs (24%). The study also finds 40% use AI to improve visual quality and nearly one in five use it for brand identity and ideation, suggesting AI is lowering barriers to content scale and reshaping creator/brand collaboration.
Marketers Increase AI Use; Technical Skills Lag
Digiday+ Research, based on a survey of 142 brand and agency professionals and interviews with marketing and tech executives, finds marketers’ adoption of AI has climbed sharply (from 44% in 2022 to 86% in 2025) but organizational tech skills, upskilling and strategic use lag behind tool adoption. The report notes many companies favor out-of-the-box AI tools (85% of respondents), while fewer build on existing LLMs (40%) or train proprietary LLMs (19%). Firms have appointed chief AI officers (brands such as General Motors, Mastercard and ZocDoc; agencies including Golin, Luckie & Co. and Horizon Media). Interviewees flagged economic concerns about GPU/TPU infrastructure costs, gaps between baseline user familiarity and advanced internal usage, and growing platform interoperability (e.g., Adobe integrating Google models and Google Vertex AI).
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