Intuit Tracked 5.3 Million Businesses. Here’s What It Found About Australian SMBs and AI

Two years ago, fewer than half of Australian small businesses used AI regularly. Today it’s nearly seven in ten, outperforming counterparts in the US, UK and Canada on productivity gains. That’s the headline finding from Intuit’s 2026 AI Impact Report, which drew on data from 5.3 million businesses and 34,000 survey respondents across four countries.

The adoption numbers tell their own story. In July 2024, 40 per cent of Australian SMBs reported regular AI use. By January 2026 that figure had climbed to 69 per cent. Daily use nearly tripled in the same period, from 9 per cent to 28 per cent.

But the number that cuts against the prevailing narrative is the employment data.

AI is creating jobs, not cutting them

AI kills jobs. That’s been the fear, and it’s not an irrational one. What Intuit’s data shows in Australia is the opposite. Among businesses that use AI, 19 per cent report they’ve hired more staff as a direct result. Just 6 per cent report fewer employees.

The same pattern holds across all four markets. Businesses using AI are more likely to be growing headcount than cutting it. In every country surveyed.

Andrew McKellar, CEO of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, put the practical case plainly: “Our small business community is both time-poor and dealing with rising cost pressures, and it’s clear that they are adopting AI tools in increasing numbers to help on both those fronts. Used effectively, AI can deliver practical productivity gains, free up time, improve efficiency and support better work-life balance.”

Where Australia sits globally

On regular AI use, Australia (69 per cent) is roughly level with Canada (69 per cent) and the UK (70 per cent), and behind the US (77 per cent). About 12 per cent of Australian SMBs now describe AI as a core part of their operations.

The standout result is productivity. 79 per cent of Australian AI users report productivity improvements, up from 37 per cent in mid-2024, and ahead of the US (78 per cent) and the UK (73 per cent).

Revenue is also tracking up. 43 per cent of businesses attribute increased revenue to their AI use. Only 3 to 4 per cent report revenue declines. A quarter report reduced operating costs.

Those are not marginal differences. As Suzy Nicoletti, Intuit’s Regional Vice President for APAC, put it: “The productivity and revenue gains we’re seeing among Australian businesses that have genuinely integrated AI aren’t marginal, they’re the difference between a business that grows and one that treads water.”

What’s holding back a third of businesses

69 per cent adoption means roughly 31 per cent of Australian SMBs haven’t crossed over yet. Privacy and security concerns are the main reason, cited by 39 per cent of businesses, a higher share than in the US (36 per cent), UK (35 per cent) or Canada (36 per cent).

Limited knowledge of what AI can actually do, and fear of getting it wrong, round out the top three barriers.

Nicoletti’s argument is that Australia’s 40,000-plus accountants and bookkeepers are the shortcut here. Small businesses already trust them. “Equip them well on AI, and you close the confidence gap at scale,” she said.

It’s a credible case. The businesses most likely still hesitating aren’t necessarily tech-averse. They’re time-poor, cost-conscious, and unsure who to trust on something new. An existing trusted adviser is a more direct path to adoption than any government campaign.

What the Federal Budget didn’t do

The report arrived the same week as the Federal Budget. The timing highlights a gap. The Budget included no direct AI support measures for small business: no tax incentives, no training subsidies, no targeted programmes for the cohort this report says is already leading global peers.

The productivity story here is good news for Australian SMBs. The jobs story is better than most people predicted. The remaining question is whether policy catches up to what’s already happening on the ground.

A note on the data

Intuit’s methodology is worth flagging for context. The 5.3 million businesses in the dataset all use QuickBooks, so the sample skews toward businesses already engaged with digital tools. The 34,000 survey respondents are self-selected.

Neither point undermines the findings, but this is a picture of connected, tool-using SMBs rather than the full spectrum of Australian small business. The 69 per cent adoption figure likely overstates where the broader population sits.

With that caveat, the direction of the data is consistent across multiple indicators and across four different countries. The adoption trend is real. The productivity gains are real. And the jobs story, so far, is holding up.

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Sources

• Intuit, 2026 AI Impact Report (Australia), May 2026
• SMBTech.au, Intuit Says Australian SMBs Are Leading Global AI Adoption And Hiring More Because Of It, May 2026

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