--- title: "Micro-businesses and SMEs in 2026: AI is advancing but remains the lowest priority — Marsanne Studio AI watch" description: "AI use among French micro-businesses and SMEs has tripled in two years to reach 40% in 2026, according to the Crédoc barometer." url: "https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch/micro-businesses-and-smes-in-2026-ai-is-advancing-but-remains-the-0f1226/" lang: "en" --- [Marsanne Studio](https://marsanne.studio/en/) [← Back to home](https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch) [← The AI watch](https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch) Data study · 30 September 2026 # 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](https://www.briefia.fr/auteur/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 →](https://www.briefia.fr/article/tpe-pme-2026-l-ia-progresse-mais-reste-derniere-priorite) ## Figures cited - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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.