The biggest AI story on Main Street right now is not that small businesses are refusing to use the technology. It is that many of them are using it faster than they can learn it.
A new Thryv survey, highlighted today by CPA Practice Advisor, says AI adoption among U.S. small businesses has climbed to 66%, up from 55% a year ago. That is a meaningful jump in 12 months. But the same survey found that 70% of owners still say they need more training to use AI effectively.
That is the real headline. The market is moving from experimentation to operational dependence, and the bottleneck is no longer access to tools. It is knowing how to use them well enough to matter.
The survey looked at 561 small and mid-sized business owners and decision-makers who were not Thryv customers. It found that AI is already paying off in ways that owners can feel. Seventy percent said AI increased revenue over the past year, while 55% said it helped reduce costs. Ninety-two percent said it saves time. More than half said they are spending at least $100 a month on AI software.
That points to a shift that small business watchers should pay attention to. AI is no longer just a free productivity trick people try once in a while. For a lot of owners, it is becoming a line item.
The survey also shows how owners are trying to fill the skills gap. Many say their first stop is not a formal course or consultant. Instead, they are learning from YouTube, social media, online resources, webinars, and even by asking AI tools how to use AI. That is creative, but it is also a warning sign. A business that relies on scattered tutorials is probably not getting a repeatable workflow.
Grant Freeman, Thryv’s president, said the gap between adoption and capability is now the thing standing in the way of better results. That tracks with what many small business owners already know from experience: the tool itself is rarely the hard part. The hard part is deciding which task to automate, which output to trust, and how to keep the tech from creating more cleanup work than it saves.
The survey also found that 46% of owners would choose AI software over hiring a new employee if both could do the same task equally well, up from 38% last year. But AI has not replaced hiring in a dramatic way yet. Most owners said they hired the same number of people they had planned, which suggests AI is being used more as a productivity layer than a staffing replacement.
That distinction matters for policymakers too. Congress is holding a hearing today on AI and small business, and the Thryv data helps explain why. Small firms are not asking whether AI matters anymore. They are asking what it takes to make it work without wasting time or money.
For now, the answer seems pretty clear: training is the market.
Sources: CPA Practice Advisor coverage of the Thryv survey, Thryv AI and Small Business Adoption report, House Committee on Small Business hearing notice.