--- title: "SMEs in 2026: AI is making progress but remains a secondary priority — Marsanne Studio AI watch" description: "AI use among French SMEs and micro-businesses has tripled in two years to reach 40% in 2026, but it remains their lowest digital priority." url: "https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch/smes-in-2026-ai-is-making-progress-but-remains-a-secondary-90c6f1/" 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 # SMEs in 2026: AI is making progress but remains a secondary priority Original title, in French: “SMEs 2026: AI Advances but Remains a Low Priority” **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 A survey by Crédoc and the Centre de la Relation Client, conducted among 9,655 French micro-businesses and SMEs in spring 2026, shows that AI use has tripled in two years to reach 40% in 2026 (up from 26% in 2025 and 13% in 2024), with 53% of SMEs using it, compared with 34% a year earlier. The dominant uses remain content generation, chatbots and information search. Yet AI ranks last among digital priorities (18%) for the next two years, far behind e-invoicing (39%), which became mandatory in September 2026. Digital spending fell in 2025 and business leaders' confidence in the benefits of digital technology is down 7 points, to 71%. Disparities by industry and company size persist, with micro-businesses still lagging behind. Summary based on the full text of the article. [Read the article on Brief IA →](https://www.briefia.fr/en/article/smes-2026-ai-advances-but-remains-a-low-priority) ## Figures cited - 40 % Share of French micro-businesses and SMEs using at least one AI solution in 2026 French micro-businesses and SMEs (0 to 249 employees), 2026, Crédoc/Centre de la Relation Client survey > « The reported use of at least one AI solution reached 40% in 2026, up from 26% in 2025 and 13% in 2024, marking a tripling in two years. » Source: Crédoc et Centre de la Relation Client - 53 % Share of SMEs using at least one AI solution, year on year French SMEs, 2026, compared with 34% a year earlier > « Among SMEs, the proportion rose from 34% to 53% in one year, while the exact rate for micro businesses is not published and remains below average. » Source: Crédoc et Centre de la Relation Client - 33 % Share of micro-businesses that invested nothing in digital in 2025 (excluding training and recruitment) French micro-businesses, 2025 > « In 2025, 33% of micro and small businesses did not spend anything on digital outside of training and recruitment, an increase of 8 points. » Source: Crédoc et Centre de la Relation Client - 78 % Share of companies with digital projects for 2026-2027 French micro-businesses and SMEs, 2026 > « Despite this context, 78% report having digital projects for 2026 and 2027. » Source: Crédoc et Centre de la Relation Client - 18 % Ranking of AI among companies' digital priorities for the next two years French micro-businesses and SMEs, 2026 > « Artificial intelligence ranks last among priorities, at 18% (-1 point) for the next two years. » Source: Crédoc et Centre de la Relation Client - 19 % Share of companies using a paid AI solution French micro-businesses and SMEs, 2026; 32% among SMEs > « Additionally, 19% of businesses use a paid AI solution, a proportion that rises to 32% among SMEs. » Source: Crédoc et Centre de la Relation Client - 68 % Share of AI users who consider its impact positive Companies using AI, France, 2026 > « Among AI users, 68% view the impact positively, and this figure reaches 84% among those who pay for their tools; the barometer notes an association between payment and positive judgment, without establishing a causal link. » Source: Crédoc et Centre de la Relation Client - 72 % Share of companies in the digital industry using AI, compared with the agricultural industry Digital industry, France, 2026, compared with 18% in agriculture > « Sectoral disparities persist, with 72% of users in digital and 18% in agriculture, where the share has doubled in one year. » Source: Crédoc et Centre de la Relation Client - 71 % Share of business leaders who consider that digital technology brings real benefits to their company Leaders of French micro-businesses and SMEs, 2026 > « The share of leaders who believe that digital brings real benefits to their business stands at 71%, down 7 points from 2025. » Source: Crédoc et Centre de la Relation Client - 9,655 companies Number of companies surveyed French companies with 0 to 249 employees, spring 2026 > « The survey was conducted by Crédoc and the Customer Relations Center. It covers 9,655 businesses with 0 to 249 employees, including 2,869 SMEs and 6,786 micro businesses, with 799 structures having no employees. » Source: Crédoc et Centre de la Relation Client ## Classification **Country** France **Company size** Micro-businesses, SMEs **Industries** All industries, or industry not specified · Agriculture and food production · Software vendors, IT services companies, telecoms · Transport, logistics, supply chain **Companies** Centre de la Relation Client (study author), Ipsos (cited), Crédoc (study author) **Keywords** ai adoption, sme, micro-businesses, e-invoicing, content generation, cybersecurity 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.