The Federal Reserve Banks' 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, fielded September 3 to November 14, 2025, asked 5,248 employer firms with 1 to 499 employees about artificial intelligence. 46 percent said their business or its employees were using AI for work. Among the firms that use it, 83 percent use it for writing or marketing, 61 percent for individual productivity, 51 percent for planning or analysis, 38 percent for administrative functions, 29 percent for customer service, 21 percent for process automation and 19 percent for coding.
- Employer firms using AI for work: 46 percent of 5,248
- Of those, writing or marketing: 83 percent
- Individual productivity: 61 percent
- Planning or analysis: 51 percent
- Administrative functions: 38 percent
- Customer service: 29 percent
- Process automation: 21 percent
- Depth: experimenting 49 percent, partially integrated 44 percent, fully integrated 7 percent
This is a weighted convenience sample, the AI questions were an optional module, and the survey counts any use by the business or its employees, which is why the 46 percent runs far above the Census Bureau's business-function measures. The two should not be compared.
The shape is the useful part. Most small employers that use AI use it to write. Fewer than a third point it at the customer, and only 7 percent call it fully integrated. The writing is the easy half. The half that books a job is the call that comes in while everyone is working.
What ProxMedia does about it: AI systems pointed at the customer, the phone, the lead reply and the review ask, installed in your words and approved before they run.
Source: Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Report on Employer Firms: Findings from the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, AI section (fielded September 3 to November 14, 2025; 5,248 employer firms; task shares among 2,225 AI-using firms), published March 2026.