A survey conducted by Startups.co.uk reveals that 82% of UK small businesses feel the pressure to adopt emerging technologies like AI. With a sample of 531 UK business leaders, the survey highlights that sectors such as Hospitality & Tourism and Technology & Software face the greatest pressure to integrate these technologies.
This trend is driven by the need to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market, especially during challenging economic conditions. Additionally, the UK government’s AI Action Plan, led by Keir Starmer, has further spotlighted AI as a key area for future growth.
The survey shows that while businesses anticipate AI will have a larger disruptive impact in the long run, certain industries are feeling more immediate pressure to adopt. These industries include:
- Technology & Software (23%)
- Hospitality & Tourism (22%)
- Finance & Fintech (20%)
- Education (17%)
- Ecommerce & Retail (16%)
As technology continues to evolve, small businesses are keen to stay ahead by leveraging AI and other emerging technologies to remain competitive and stand out in a crowded market.
AI expected to disrupt
More UK businesses said that they expect AI to disrupt their industry in the long term rather than in the short term, indicating that the impact of artificial intelligence on UK businesses could be a slow burner.
The survey findings show that while 67% of UK business leaders expect artificial intelligence to impact their industry in 2025, a considerable 72% of business leaders anticipate AI to disrupt their industry over the next 3 years.
This suggests that the impact of artificial intelligence on UK businesses could actually be greater in coming years rather than in the immediate future.
Editor of Startups.co.uk, Zohra Huda, says:
“Kudos to Keir and Kyle for the AI ambition and if action follows, it can only be of benefit to UK productivity and business growth. However, our data reveals a surprising side effect of new and emerging tech – the anxiety it induces in businesses to keep up at a time when they are already under huge amounts of pressure to stay afloat. As the Startups 100 Index for 2025 highlights, enterprises that don’t fear longterm disruption are those who have AI embedded into their business models.”
