Reference
UK AI adoption statistics
Every UK AI adoption figure we cite across this site, gathered in one place with its publisher and its date. Quote any of it, and cite the original publisher.
26 figures, last checked against their sources on .
Each figure names the organisation that produced it and when. Where we hold a link to the publisher's own report, the figure links to it. Where we do not, the publisher and date are given in full rather than a guessed link.
Adoption
How many UK organisations use AI, and how many have decided not to.
80%
of UK businesses neither use nor plan to use AI
From a survey of 3,500 UK businesses.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT),
71%
of UK businesses cannot identify an AI use case relevant to their organisation
Holds even among organisations already using AI tools.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT),
75%
of UK organisations that have adopted AI report improved workforce productivity
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT),
1%
of UK organisations deploy agentic AI
Almost every organisation starting this work begins from the same position.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT),
78%
of organisations use AI in at least one business function
Global, not UK only. Included because it is the figure most often quoted back at UK boards.
Skills and confidence
What people can actually do with the tools, as opposed to what they have access to.
21%
of UK workers feel confident using AI at work
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT),
56%
of employers using or planning to use AI rate their own knowledge as beginner or novice
DSIT AI Adoption Research,
46%
of employees can quality-assure AI outputs to a standard that would satisfy a regulator, after training
Measured after training, not before. Training alone does not close the assurance gap.
DSIT Flexible AI Upskilling Fund evaluation,
Governance and policy
The gap between AI being used and AI being governed.
7%
of UK organisations have an embedded AI governance position
Trustmarque AI Governance Index,
54%
of UK organisations have minimal AI governance or none at all
Trustmarque AI Governance Index,
76%
of organisations have one person or fewer responsible for data protection
The same people are usually asked to own AI risk as well.
ICO Data Controller Study,
71%
of UK employees have used AI tools their organisation has not approved
51% do so every week.
Microsoft and Censuswide,
49%
of UK non-adopters cite data privacy and security as their primary concern about AI
YouGov B2B Omnibus,
84%
of UK businesses that detected a breach were breached by phishing
Relevant to AI because generative tools remove the spelling and grammar tells staff are trained to spot.
DSIT Cyber Security Breaches Survey,
Charities
The voluntary sector, where AI use has risen faster than the policies covering it.
79%
of UK charities now use AI tools
The 2023 report put this at 35%.
62%
of small UK charities have no AI policy at all
56%
of charities cite limited skills as the single biggest barrier to AI adoption
Up from 43% the year before.
12%
of charities believe their board has strong AI skills
46% have no trustee with relevant digital expertise.
69%
of charities cite squeezed organisational finances as their biggest barrier to digital progress
3%
of trustees report that their charity uses AI
Set against 79% of charities using AI tools, this measures what boards know, not what staff do.
Public sector
Central government and local authorities.
70%
of government bodies were piloting or planning AI use
Only 30% had risk or assurance processes that explicitly covered AI, and only 21% had an AI strategy.
95%
of responding councils were using or exploring AI
28% still had no AI usage policy for corporate devices, and 41% had a specific AI policy.
Local Government Association,
Outcomes
What happens to AI projects after they start.
42%
of companies abandoned most of their AI initiatives in 2025
Up from 17% the year before.
80%+
of AI projects fail, more than twice the rate of traditional IT projects
RAND Corporation,
43%
of organisations cite data quality as the primary barrier to AI success
Informatica CDO Insights,
80%
of organisations have encountered risky agent behaviours, including data exposure and unauthorised access
Using these figures
Cite the publisher named beside each figure, not this page. We gathered them; we did not produce them.
If a figure here bears on a decision you are making, our free AI readiness assessment and charity AI health check show where your own organisation sits against them. Both are free and neither needs a call first.
Common questions
Can I quote these figures?
Yes. Every figure names its publisher and its date, so cite the original publisher rather than this page. Where we hold a link to the publisher's own report, the figure links to it. A credit to Insightful AI is welcome but not required.
How current are these figures?
This page was last checked against its sources on 11 September 2026. Each figure carries its own publication date, which is the date that matters when you use it. Some are older than others, and the date is on the page so you can judge that yourself.
Why are some figures missing a link?
Because we do not have a confirmed link to the publisher's own page for that research. Those entries carry the publisher and the date in full, which is enough to find and check the source. We would rather show no link than guess one and send you to the wrong report.
Is this every AI statistic about the UK?
No. It is every figure this site cites, which is a narrower and more useful thing. Each one is here because it bears on a decision a UK SME, charity or public sector team has to make about adopting AI.
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