ABS: Big Australian Firms Use AI 3x More Than Small Ones
Official ABS data: 35% of large Australian businesses now use AI versus 11% of small ones. The gap is widening fast — here's how a small firm closes it.
The gap the ABS just measured
Thirty-five per cent of large Australian businesses now use AI. Among small and micro businesses, the figure is eleven. That three-to-one split is not a survey blip — it is the official picture from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and the firms that moved first are pulling away.
The ABS published its Business Characteristics Survey for 2024-25 on 25 June 2026, drawing on nearly 7,000 businesses. It is the most authoritative read yet on who is actually adopting AI in Australia. And the sharpest divide it found is by size, not just by sector.
What the numbers actually say
Across the whole economy, 12 per cent of Australian businesses reported using AI in 2024-25. The average buries the real story. Large businesses jumped from 9 per cent in 2021-22 to 35 per cent — nearly quadrupling in three years. Medium businesses went from 3 per cent to 22 per cent, a more than sevenfold rise. Small and micro businesses sit at 11 per cent, roughly a third of the large-business rate.
The split by industry matters just as much if you sell services. Information, media and telecommunications leads at 38 per cent. Professional, scientific and technical services — the accountants, consultants, engineers and law firms — and financial services both sit at 24 per cent, double the national average. If you run a professional-services firm, one in four of your competitors is already in.
AI use by business size, 2024-25
Source: ABS Business Characteristics Survey 2024-25, released June 2026
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Book a call →Why the gap widens instead of closes
Adoption compounds. A large firm that put AI into its quoting, scheduling and reporting a year ago has spent that year tuning it, training staff and banking the efficiency. It does not start from zero next year — it starts from a working system and adds to it. A small business still deciding whether to begin starts a full year behind, and loses a little more ground every quarter the decision waits.
The risk is concrete, not abstract. When a larger competitor answers every after-hours call, quotes in minutes and closes its books faster, it wins the jobs and the margin a slower rival leaves on the table. This is an operations throughput problem before it is a technology one. But adoption alone is not the finish line — we wrote about how six times more SMEs report AI productivity gains than profitability gains, and the firms genuinely pulling ahead are the ones aiming AI at the revenue chain, not the marketing stack. Worth knowing where your business sits against the field before you spend a dollar.
35% vs 11%
Large versus small AI adoption
A 24-point gap, per the ABS 2024-25 survey
7×
The rise in medium-business AI use
From 3% in 2021-22 to 22% in 2024-25
24%
Professional & technical services using AI
Double the 12% national average
What a small firm does about it
You do not close a 24-point gap by buying every tool at once. You close it by picking the one workflow where time most directly equals money — the quote, the missed call, the monthly close — and putting AI on that first. Measure what it saves. Then add the next. The 11 per cent figure is a starting line, not a ceiling: Australian SME adoption has already doubled in the areas tied to real revenue gains.
Free government training helps, and you should take it — the National AI Centre's subsidised microskill course will give your team the literacy to start. But a trained employee is not a working system. The course teaches principles; it does not install the AI phone agent or wire it into your calendar. That build is the half that actually shifts the 11 per cent, and it is where knowing what to deploy — and what to skip — pays for itself. The large firms did not get to 35 per cent by attending a course. They got there by shipping one workflow, then the next.
Key takeaways
Common questions
How many Australian businesses use AI?
About 12% of all Australian businesses reported using AI in 2024-25, according to the ABS. That average hides a wide split by size: 35% of large businesses, 22% of medium, and 11% of small and micro businesses.
Which industries adopt AI the most in Australia?
Information, media and telecommunications leads at 38%. Professional, scientific and technical services — accountants, consultants, engineers and law firms — and financial and insurance services both sit at 24%, double the national average (ABS 2024-25).
How does a small business start closing the AI adoption gap?
Pick the single workflow where time most directly equals money — the quote, the missed call, the monthly close — put AI on that first, and measure what it saves before adding the next. Free government training builds your team's literacy, but turning that into a working system is the step that moves the numbers.
▶Assumptions & methodology
- All headline figures are from the Australian Bureau of Statistics media release 'Business adoption of Artificial Intelligence accelerates in 2024–25', released 25 June 2026, drawn from the Business Characteristics Survey of nearly 7,000 businesses conducted October 2025 to February 2026. Figures: 12% of all businesses; large 35% (up from 9% in 2021-22); medium 22% (up from 3%); small and micro 11%.
- The ABS release did not publish a 2021-22 comparison figure for small and micro businesses, so this note describes their 11% relative to the large-business rate rather than as a change over time. 'Nearly quadrupled' (9%→35%) and 'more than sevenfold' (3%→22%) refer to large and medium businesses respectively. The '24-point gap' is 35% minus 11%; 'roughly a third' is 11/35 ≈ 0.31.
- Industry figures (information/media/telecommunications 38%; professional, scientific and technical services 24%; financial and insurance services 24%) are from the same ABS release. General information, not business or legal advice. Last reviewed 6 August 2026.
Field Notes are general commentary on AI trends for Australian businesses. They don’t constitute professional advice. Talk to your accountant, lawyer, or IT adviser before acting on anything specific to your situation — or talk to us if you want help working out where AI fits.
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