Despite the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI), internationally comparable data on how businesses use this new tool are scarce. In Firm Data on AI (NBER Working Paper 34836), Ivan Yotzov, Jose Maria Barrero, Nicholas Bloom, Philip Bunn, Steven J. Davis, Kevin M. Foster, Aaron Jalca, Brent H. Meyer, Paul Mizen, Michael A. Navarrete, Pawel Smietanka, Gregory Thwaites, and Ben Zhe Wang address this gap by fielding a representative, multi-country survey of firm-level AI.

In the US, UK, Germany, and Australia, roughly 70 percent of firms have adopted AI, but its effects so far on employment and productivity remain small.

Research teams at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the Bank of England, the Deutsche Bundesbank, and Macquarie University fielded identical survey questions between November 2025 and January 2026, yielding responses from nearly 6,000 CEOs, CFOs, and senior finance managers.

AI adoption is widespread, with 69 percent of businesses across the four countries reporting some current use of AI technology. The rate was highest in the US (78 percent) and lowest in Australia (59 percent). The most commonly cited application is text generation using large language models, used by 41 percent of firms. Larger, more productive, and higher-paying firms are significantly more likely to use AI, while older firms and those with older directors are less likely to do so. Across all four countries, about 75 percent of firms expect to be using AI over the next three years.

While over two-thirds of senior executives report personally using AI during a typical week, the intensity remains modest—averaging around 1.5 hours per week. CEOs use AI more frequently than CFOs and other senior executives.

More than 90 percent of executives report no effect of AI use on employment over the past three years, and 89 percent report no impact on labor productivity. Among the minority that do report effects, the results tilt slightly positive for productivity, with an estimated average boost of 0.29 percent. However, executives anticipate much larger effects going forward. They forecast that over the next three years, AI will increase labor productivity by 1.4 percent on average while reducing employment by 0.7 percent, implying a net output gain of roughly 0.8 percent. About two-thirds of the anticipated workforce reduction is expected to come from reduced hiring.

The researchers also surveyed about 3,000 employees in the US. AI use among workers was similar to that of US executives—averaging around 1.8 hours per week. Workers have very different expectations of the future, however. They expect that AI will increase employment at their firms by about 0.5 percent over the next three years, while US executives predict a 1.2 percent reduction. Employees also expect smaller productivity gains of 0.9 percent versus the US executives’ estimate of 2.3 percent.

The researchers acknowledge funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, the Smith Richardson Foundation, and Stanford Impact Labs.