UK SMEs' AI spending hits new high as Anthropic edges out OpenAI, study says
AI summary
A study by small-business credit card provider Capital on Tap says UK SME adoption of AI tools rose from 1.1% in 2023 to 12.8% in 2026, with roughly one in eight small businesses paying for AI and average quarterly spending reaching £75.60 per SME. The research puts Anthropic's Claude and related tools at 54.1% of that AI spending and OpenAI/ChatGPT second at 27.3%, while more than 28% of SMEs use two or more platforms. It also claims publishing leads sector adoption at 26%, ahead of radio and television and consulting (21.6% each) and telecoms (20.3%), and advises businesses to cut duplicate subscriptions and check outputs.
In-depth insight
It offers a rare vendor-side snapshot of how small businesses split their AI budgets between Anthropic and OpenAI.