A new report from the online lender OnDeck puts a number on something a lot of owners have felt but could not measure: most small businesses are already using AI, and the ones who use it say it helps. If you have been telling yourself you will get to AI once things slow down, this is the report that says the room has already started without you. The good news is that the wins these businesses report are small, practical, and copyable.
What the report found
OnDeck, an online small-business lender that is part of Enova, published its Small Business Cash Flow Trend Report for the second quarter of 2026 in partnership with Ocrolus, an AI analytics platform for lenders. The survey reached 805 of OnDeck's own customers, small businesses that generally run with fewer than 30 employees and modest annual revenue. It was fielded June 16 to 24, 2026.
The headline number: 61% of these small businesses report using AI, up from 58% the previous quarter and 50% a year ago.
of these small businesses now report using AI, up from 58% the previous quarter and 50% a year ago.
Source: OnDeck Small Business Cash Flow Trend Report, 2026Two things are worth reading carefully there. First, these are not tech companies or Fortune 500 divisions. They are ordinary operators seeking working capital. Second, the climb was three points in a quarter. That is steady, unglamorous adoption, not a stampede. Nobody is being left behind in a single week. But the direction is one way, and it has been for a year.
The wins are boring, and that is the point
When the report asked AI users what AI actually did for them, the answers were not moonshots. The top three benefits cited were:
- Reduction in errors and rework: 40%
- Improved employee productivity: 38%
- Improved marketing performance: 34%
Fewer mistakes to fix. More done in a day. Marketing that pulls a little better. These are the kinds of results a solo founder or a five-person shop can feel in a week, and they are exactly the kind of practical win that compounds when you build a small system around it instead of chasing a magic tool.
Overall, 91% of AI users said AI had a positive impact on their business, up from 89% the quarter before. When nine in ten of the people who try a thing say it helped, the question stops being whether to start and becomes where to start.
When nine in ten of the people who try a thing say it helped, the question stops being whether to start and becomes where to start.
One tool detail worth noticing
Buried in the report is a live signal about which assistants small businesses are reaching for. Among these businesses, Claude usage more than doubled quarter over quarter, from 16% to 33%. That is the tool we teach on most often, and watching it double among small operators in three months tells you the market is choosing the tools that hold up to real work.
The context: growth-minded, cost-squeezed, and done waiting on banks
The AI numbers sit inside a broader picture of small-business owners who are playing offense. 93% of owners expect moderate to significant growth over the next year (62.9% moderate, 30.4% significant). At the same time, their cost worries moved. Inflation reclaimed the top spot at 34%, ahead of cash flow at 30%.
Capital access is changing too. 75% of the small businesses surveyed said they bypassed traditional banks when they went looking for money, and 48% of those who did apply to a bank first were denied.
As Cory Kampfer, Co-President of Small Business Lending at Enova, put it: "Small business owners are staying focused on growth even as the cost pressures they face shift from quarter to quarter." David Snitkof, General Manager of Small Business at Ocrolus, added a note about why lenders are seeing the change: "The cash flow data tells a consistent story: non-bank loan inflows rose year over year, while traditional bank loan inflows declined."
You can hear the through-line. Owners want to grow, costs keep moving, and the tools that give you a clearer view of your own numbers are the ones earning the work. AI is one of those tools.
Read the number honestly
One caveat is worth keeping before you take 61% as gospel. Every one of the 805 respondents is an existing OnDeck lending customer. They already went looking for outside capital, which means they skew active and growth-minded. This is a snapshot of a busy, ambitious slice of small business, not a random sample of every shop in the country. The "using AI" figure is also self-reported, and the report does not publish exactly how the survey defined a user, so treat it as "has touched AI," not "runs on AI."
That does not undo the story. It sharpens it. The businesses most focused on growing are also the ones adopting AI fastest. If you are trying to grow, you are looking at your peer group.
Where this fits in The 7 Levels of AI Proficiency
At LaunchReady we measure AI capability on The 7 Levels of AI Proficiency, a framework that describes the climb from first curiosity to running AI as part of how the business operates. What this report captures is a lot of small businesses standing at the first couple of levels: they have opened a tool, tried it on a real task, and seen a result they liked. That is a real and worthy place to be, and it is where every proficient operator started.
The 40% who reported fewer errors did not get there by being technical. They got there by giving AI one repeatable task, checking the output, and keeping the version that worked. That is the whole beginning of the climb: pick a job you do every week, hand a piece of it to a tool, and verify the result before you trust it.
A next step you can take this week
Pick one task you repeat every week that involves writing, checking, or organizing information. A follow-up email, a weekly invoice review, a social post. Give that one task to an AI assistant, then check the result the way you would check a new hire's first draft. Keep what works, adjust what does not, and do it again next week. That is how the 91% got their positive result, and it is the first rung of the climb.
If you want a read on where you and your team currently stand on The 7 Levels of AI Proficiency, that is exactly what our assessment is built to show you.
Related reading: Level 1: The Cadet.
Sources
- New Report: Small Businesses Lean Into Growth and AI (PR Newswire)
- OnDeck Small Business Cash Flow Trend Report (Q2 2026)
Frequently Asked Questions
Does 61% mean most small businesses in the country use AI?
Not quite. The figure comes from 805 of OnDeck's lending customers, a group that skews growth-minded and capital-seeking. It is a strong signal about active small businesses, not a national census.
What are small businesses actually using AI for?
The report cites reducing errors and rework (40%), improving employee productivity (38%), and improving marketing performance (34%) as the top benefits. Practical, day-to-day work, not experiments.
Which AI tools are they choosing?
The report highlights Claude, which more than doubled among these businesses in a single quarter, from 16% to 33%. Other tool shares were not fully captured in the report page.
I have never used AI for work. Am I too late?
No. Adoption rose only three points last quarter, so this is a steady climb, not a closing door. The businesses in this report started the same place everyone does: one tool, one task, one result they could check.
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