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Federal Reserve Board · April 2026

Monitoring AI Adoption in the U.S. Economy (FEDS Notes)

Federal Reserve Board's Monitoring AI Adoption in the U.S. Economy (FEDS Notes) (April 2026; n=BTOS ~20,000 firms per wave; RPS ~5,000–6,000 people per wave; SBU 1,032 (Nov 2025), fielded Through year-end 2025) found that ~18% of US firms had adopted AI as of year-end 2025 (Census BTOS, firm-weighted).

Read the original report ↗Cite2 min read · Summary updated
AI adoption estimates depend on what is countedPercent, late 2025; bases differ by survey: firms (BTOS), workers (RPS), employment-weighted firms (SBU)
Employment-weighted firms (SBU)
~78%
Workers using GenAI for work (RPS)
~41%
Firms (Census BTOS)
~18%
Source: Federal Reserve Board, Monitoring AI Adoption in the U.S. Economy (FEDS Notes), 2026.

Key findings

  1. 01
    About 78% of the labor force works at firms that have adopted AI (SBU, employment-weighted), and about 54% at firms using LLMs.
  2. 02
    Work-related generative AI adoption among workers was about 41% in November 2025; about 12% use it daily at work.
  3. 03
    Adoption estimates differ widely by survey and weighting; finance and professional services lead across measures.

By the numbers

~18%of US firms had adopted AI as of year-end 2025 (Census BTOS, firm-weighted)
~41%of workers used generative AI for work as of Nov 2025 (Real-Time Population Survey)
~78%of the labor force works at firms that have adopted AI (Atlanta Fed SBU, Nov 2025)
Work-related generative AI use by workersPercent of workers, Real-Time Population Survey
Source: Federal Reserve Board, Monitoring AI Adoption in the U.S. Economy (FEDS Notes), 2026, Figure 2.

What it means for you Draft

For executives at $10–100M companies

The gap between 18% of firms and 78% of workers is mostly about size: big employers adopt first, and they employ most people. A mid-sized firm reading headlines about near-universal adoption may be comparing itself to the wrong group. It is also a reminder that many of our employees likely use AI even where the company has no formal program.

Limitations

High trust.Central bank staff note; transparent about sources and weighting; large federal samples. Publisher does not sell AI. Staff views, not official Fed policy.

The headline figure measures the “Tried it” stage of adoption (any use of ai).Why adoption numbers disagree

Cite the original

Federal Reserve Board. "Monitoring AI Adoption in the U.S. Economy (FEDS Notes)." April 3, 2026. https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/monitoring-ai-adoption-in-the-u-s-economy-20260403.html

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