MADISON (WKOW) – Analysis from the U.S. Census Bureau finds businesses of all sizes are integrating artificial intelligence into their operations, but the smallest employers are punching well above their weight.
The analysis released Tuesday looked at the bureau’s biweekly BusinessTrends and Outlook Survey, and found that use of AI differs depending on the size of the company.
The largest companies (those with 250 or more employees) currently are the most likely to use AI. As of August, 7.8 percent use the technology.
The next category of business using the most AI in their operations are those with fewer than five employees. The August data shows 5.8 percent have integrated the tech into their work.
Several Madison companies have built business models around AI. One of them is RedFox AI based at the StartingBlock coworking space on East Washington Avenue. Founder Nick Myers is trying to use the technology to make health care more accessible.
The business uses AI to teach how to use diagnostic tests to providers and patients.
His idea for the company came from a background in AI that stretches back to 2017—or “before it was cool” as Myers told 27 News in an interview.
He survived a battle with Leukemia in his childhood. He has vivid memories of his parents struggling to understand his needed treatment. He hopes RedFox AI’s tools will give a helping hand to families struggling to combat similar diagnoses.
His history with AI has mostly involved its implementation within larger companies, but over the last few years he’s noticed an explosion of use within smaller businesses. He attributes the growth to the introduction of services like ChatGPT that have made the technology far more accessible.
“I think the general business use case comes back to information and data,” Myers said. “Because businesses for so long have had all of this data, and yes, there’s been tools to help us analyze that and consolidate it, but up until the introduction of generative AI models, where you can simply input that information, tell it exactly what you want, and get a result out, they’ve never had that before.”
Adoption of the technology is rising faster with larger companies, but businesses of all sizes are moving toward AI usage. If current trends continue, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the technology will hit 25 percent adoption among the largest firms in six years, while it will take 15 years for the smallest companies to reach the same milestone.
Asked for his projection of the future, Myers called AI an “arms race” that he felt would accelerate as the technology becomes more capable.
