24 April, 2026

Across the UK, artificial intelligence is reshaping the ways businesses work. But it is doing so unevenly, and risks reinforcing long‑standing economic divides, building on a digital gap that has existed since the spread of the internet and earlier waves of technology. We have written before about the global AI divide, and similar patterns of uneven access and opportunity are now increasingly evident within the UK itself. While many businesses are already integrating AI into their everyday operations, others have yet to adopt it, often unsure where to start, lacking the skills or resources to do so, or cautious about data, cost and risk.

Businesses using AI often reclaim several hours each week, which many report redirecting towards creative thinking and strategic planning. Those without it face growing pressure to do more with less. Over time, this risks turning differences in adoption into differences in resilience and competitiveness.

Location plays a clear role in adoption. 93% of London-based SMEs use AI daily in their operations. In contrast, in regions such as Yorkshire, the South West and Scotland, roughly a quarter of firms are not using AI at all. Uptake also varies by sector, with digital and communications‑focused industries moving faster in their AI adoption journey than hospitality, retail, manufacturing and transport. Age also matters: younger business leaders tend to be more confident adopting new tools, while older ones are more likely to face skills and confidence barriers.

Yet faster adoption brings responsibilities as well as benefits. AI brings environmental, ethical and social trade‑offs that are easy to overlook: from energy and water use in data infrastructure, to questions of data governance, bias and accountability. If these impacts are ignored, inequality can simply be displaced elsewhere.

AI is becoming part of the baseline for modern business. The growing gap in adoption is therefore not just a technology issue, but an economic and equality one, shaped by access to skills, resources and clear, trusted processes. Addressing it means widening access and sharing responsibility, so the UK does not repeat the uneven outcomes of earlier digital shifts and AI’s benefits are distributed more evenly across places, sectors and generations rather than reinforcing existing divides.

By Hillevi Fock