Only 14 Percent of Small Businesses Have Successfully Integrated AI. Anthropic Says This Is the Missing Link

Small businesses want to use AI. The problem, Anthropic says, is that many don’t know how. On Thursday, Anthropic published findings from its Claude SMB Tour, a series of free workshops it held for six weeks with more than 1,000 small business owners across 10 U.S. cities. The majority of attendees came from industries like construction, manufacturing, and logistics. Before launching the tour, Anthropic surveyed 503 small-business decision-makers. It found that 81 percent were open to trying new AI tools. Their top pain point, however, was that employees didn’t know how or when to use them. That uncertainty showed up during the workshops. Anthropic says many attendees had already used its Claude chatbot daily, but hadn’t tried more advanced features like Cowork, skills, or connectors, which use agents, instructions, and integrations to automate multi-step workflows. Others told Anthropic that AI was changing so quickly that training programs struggled to keep up. Anthropic says hands-on training helped. During the workshops, business owners learned how to set up Claude Cowork and build workflows for tasks like automating payroll or creating a “virtual chief-of-staff.” Across 635 exit surveys, the guided build session was the most-cited highlight, and nearly two-thirds of attendees asked for more hands-on help implementing AI afterward. Owners also wanted to learn from other small businesses. Hearing how their peers used AI was the second-most-cited highlight of the workshops, and attendees requested a shared collection of real-world use cases more often than any new product feature, according to Anthropic. The findings come as small businesses race to figure out where AI fits into their operations. A Goldman Sachs survey of 1,256 small business owners published in March found that 76 percent of them were using AI, but just 14 percent had fully integrated it into their core operations. Nearly half cited a lack of technical expertise as a barrier, while 73 percent said more training and resources would help them implement AI. For small businesses with limited staff and resources, that training can help owners move beyond playing around with chatbots and identify tasks they can actually hand off to AI, potentially freeing up time for work. Anthropic is betting that more training can close that gap. The company is launching a Claude SMB Trainer Program to teach community organizations and AI partners how to bring AI workshops to small businesses themselves. The first two training sessions will take place in San Francisco and New York City, with the dates still to be announced. Its Claude SMB Tour is also expanding to more cities this fall, starting with Boston on September 16. BY AARON MOK