Data study ·
Micro-businesses and SMEs in 2026: AI is advancing but remains the lowest priority
Original title, in French: “TPE-PME 2026 : l’IA progresse mais reste dernière priorité”
- Publication
- Brief IA (France)
- Author
- Tom Levy
- Published on
- 30 September 2026 · read in the page structured data
Summary
According to a survey by Crédoc and the Centre Relations Clients of 9,655 French micro-businesses and SMEs in spring 2026, use of at least one AI solution has reached 40%, up from 26% in 2025 and 13% in 2024. Among SMEs, the proportion rose from 34% to 53% in one year, while micro-businesses lag behind. The main uses are content generation, chatbots and document analysis. Despite this progress, AI ranks last among digital investment priorities for 2026-2027 (18%), behind e-invoicing, software purchases and training. Among users, 68% consider the impact positive, a figure that rises to 84% among those using a paid solution.
Summary based on the full text of the article.
Read the article on Brief IA →Figures cited
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40 %
share of micro-businesses and SMEs using at least one AI solution in 2026
French micro-businesses and SMEs, 2026
« L’usage déclaré d’au moins une solution d’IA atteint 40 % en 2026, contre 26 % en 2025 et 13 % en 2024, soit un triplement en deux ans. »
Source: Crédoc / Centre Relations Clients
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53 %
share of SMEs using AI in 2026
French SMEs, 2026, compared with 34% in 2025
« Chez les PME, la proportion est passée de 34 % à 53 % en un an »
Source: Crédoc / Centre Relations Clients
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18 %
AI ranked last among digital priorities for 2026-2027
French micro-businesses and SMEs
« L’intelligence artificielle arrive en dernière position des priorités, à 18 % (-1 point) pour les deux prochaines années. »
Source: Crédoc / Centre Relations Clients
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72 %
AI use in the digital industry
companies in the digital industry, France
« Les écarts sectoriels persistent, avec 72 % d’utilisateurs dans le numérique et 18 % dans l’agriculture, où la part a doublé en un an. »
Source: Crédoc / Centre Relations Clients
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68 %
share of AI users who consider the impact positive
AI users, French micro-businesses and SMEs
« Parmi les utilisateurs d’IA, 68 % jugent l’impact positif, et cette part atteint 84 % chez celles qui paient leurs outils »
Source: Crédoc / Centre Relations Clients
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19 %
companies using a paid AI solution
French micro-businesses and SMEs
« 19 % des entreprises utilisent une solution d’IA payante, une proportion qui grimpe à 32 % chez les PME »
Source: Crédoc / Centre Relations Clients
Classification
- Country
- France
- Company size
- Micro-businesses, SMEs
- Industries
- All industries, or industry not specified · Software vendors, IT services companies, telecoms · Agriculture and food production · Transport, logistics, supply chain
- Companies
- Ipsos (cited), Crédoc (study author), Centre Relations Clients (study author)
- Keywords
- micro-businesses, SMEs, ai adoption, digital barometer, crédoc, content generation, chatbots
Entry written by Marsanne Studio from the cited article, with the help of an AI model (claude-sonnet-5). The rights to the article and its illustrations belong to Brief IA and its author. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.