AI Optimism Meets Entrepreneurial Reality

By SBE Council at 24 July, 2026, 12:55 pm

By Karen Kerrigan –

When Mark Zuckerberg wrote this week that “the future is for everyone” and that AI should give every person “the tools to reach your full potential,” he conveyed a message that most entrepreneurs and small business owners already understand through experience – not theory.

Much of the public conversation around artificial intelligence has been dominated by fear. We hear about jobs disappearing, technology replacing people, and dystopian visions of what AI might become or produce. Those concerns deserve thoughtful dialog, but they need to be grounded in reality and not “what ifs.”  The historical pattern of technological innovation and its aftermath has consistently demonstrated widespread benefits and gains for consumers, entrepreneurs, workers, businesses, government, and our economy.

For years, SBE Council has tracked how small businesses adopt emerging technologies. Our latest Digital State of Small Business 2026 survey paints a remarkably optimistic picture. Small business owners are not standing on the sidelines wondering whether AI matters, or wringing their hands about their businesses being displaced. They and their employees are embracing these tools because they are delivering measurable value and helping them to compete and innovate better.

As highlighted by our survey, entrepreneurs are using AI to conduct research, improve customer service, strengthen marketing, save time, generate new ideas and revenue, analyze data, streamline operations, and compete more effectively against much larger firms:

● 82% of small business employers have adopted at least one AI tool, and the typical small business uses five different AI tools.

● Confidence in AI is strong: 90% of adopters are confident in their ability to effectively us AI and digital tools, including 52% who are very confident. Only 8% report low confidence.

● 93% of small businesses that use AI report they will continue investing in these technologies over the coming year – 62% will increase their investment – because they see tangible returns in productivity, innovation, and growth.

● 66% report revenue increases linked to AI, and 22% report revenue gains exceeding 10%.

● Entrepreneurs overwhelmingly view AI as a tool that augments human creativity and capability – not one that replaces it: 52% saying AI complements employees, while only 8% say it primarily replaces workers. 93% of AI users plan to maintain or increase staffing levels. In the coming year, 40% of AI small business users say they plan to increase hiring.

● Efficiency gains are being reinvested: 44% report improved innovation or customer engagement, 35% invested in technology or competitiveness initiatives, and 34% pursued additional growth opportunities.

● AI is viewed as a growth driver: 81% of users say AI is important to competitiveness and growth.

● Moreover, small business owners report a median of five hours saved per week personally, and a median of 11.5 employee hours saved per week across the organization. Based on SBE Council estimates, the total in owner/employee time saved (16.5 hours per week) amounts to yearly savings for small businesses of $243.6 billion overall.

Technology platforms and tools are making entrepreneurs more effective, not less human. As I noted during my panel discussions at the Aspen Ideas Festival in early July, AI is democratizing business capabilities. A five-person business can now access capabilities that once required entire corporate departments. AI is becoming a marketing department, customer service team, financial analyst, IT department and strategic advisor. All at a fraction of the traditional cost.

Throughout American history, every major technological advancement – from electricity and the telephone to personal computers, the internet, smartphones, cloud computing, and digital commerce – has expanded opportunity. New technologies consistently lowered barriers to entry, opened new markets, and enabled small firms to compete with established businesses in ways that were once unimaginable. AI is accelerating that same democratization.

For more than three decades, SBE Council has been watching entrepreneurs adopt new technologies. We have witnessed wave after wave of technological disruption, and with each wave came gloomy predictions of economic upheaval or warnings that innovation needed to be slowed or constrained.

We heard it during the rise of the commercial internet. We heard it as e-commerce transformed retail. We heard it with smartphones and mobile apps, the sharing economy, cloud computing, digital marketplaces, and the impact of large technology platforms. AI is the latest target of the doomsters. Some within the industry, who may have self-serving agendas.

Through each of the transitions, however, America’s entrepreneurs and their workforce have consistently demonstrated an ability to adapt, innovate, and use new technologies to solve problems, create value and new businesses, and expand opportunity.

This is why Zuckerberg’s observation that “the future is for everyone” resonates with entrepreneurs. The promise of AI is not simply about more powerful technology. It is about putting world-class capabilities into the hands of millions of entrepreneurs and small business owners who can transform those tools into new products, new jobs, new industries, and new opportunities.

That is why listening to entrepreneurs matters. While policymakers, academics, and commentators often debate technology in the abstract, small business owners evaluate it in practical terms. Does it save time? Improve customer service? Open new markets? Increase productivity? Help me innovate and compete?

Our surveys and decades of being in the trenches find the answer continues to be yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. In my view, AI has the potential to become one of the greatest equalizers in the history of small business. It is dramatically lowering the cost – and decreasing the complexity and pain points – associated with starting and scaling a business. That means not only more businesses supporting local economies, but growth-oriented ones that strengthen the resiliency, innovative capacity, and competitiveness of the U.S. economy.

Pessimism and bad news may get more clicks, but thankfully optimism and the human energy driving progress continue to win out.

Karen Kerrigan is President & CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.