U.S. Businesses Using AI (Census BTOS)

## What this measures

The share of U.S. employer businesses answering yes to: "In the last two weeks, did this business use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in any of its business functions? (Examples of AI: machine learning, natural language processing, virtual agents, voice recognition, etc.)" Each reading covers a two-week reference period and is dated at its end.

## Why it matters

It is the broadest official measure of AI in use across American business, from a sample of about 1.2 million firms, and it updates every two weeks. It is the behavior side of the AI debate: what businesses are actually doing, whatever the public says it feels.

## How to read it

Higher means more firms are putting AI to work. Most firms are small, so this is a count of businesses, not of workers or output: large firms use AI far more often than the typical firm.

## What it does not say

The question was reworded in November 2025 (it used to ask about AI 'in producing goods or services'), so the series starts then and is not spliced to the older, lower readings. About one in ten firms answers 'do not know'. It says nothing about how intensively AI is used.

## Method

U.S. Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey, national estimates (National.xlsx). A work of the U.S. Government, public domain.

## Source

U.S. Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey. Public domain.