Data study ·
Spanish SMEs are adopting AI widely, but neglecting usage policies
Original title, in Spanish: “Las pymes españolas abrazan la IA, pero descuidan las políticas de uso”
- Publication
- Emprendedores (Spain)
- Author
- David Ramos
- Published on
- 11 October 2026 · read in the page structured data
Summary
According to an OpenAI report cited in the article, 97% of Spanish SMEs already use AI: 59% regularly and 38% occasionally, with usage more frequent in larger companies (67% for those with 50-250 employees versus 54% for the smallest). Yet 39% of organisations have no formal usage policy, and according to the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, 71% of employees use these tools without their company's approval, a “Shadow AI” phenomenon that is more marked in the smallest organisations (49% with no policy among those with fewer than 10 employees). Check Point Software Technologies points to risks of sensitive data leaking through prompts. On the benefits side, 79% of SMEs consider AI to make them more efficient, with an estimated saving of 3 hours per week according to OpenAI, and Cegid notes that 32% of Spanish office workers save 6 hours a week.
Summary based on the full text of the article.
Read the article on Emprendedores →Figures cited
-
97 %
share of Spanish SMEs using AI
Spanish SMEs
« el 97% de las pymes de nuestro país han abrazado la IA »
Source: OpenAI
-
59 %
share of Spanish SMEs using AI regularly
Spanish SMEs
« Casi 6 de cada 10 de ellas (59%) usan esta tecnología de forma regular »
Source: OpenAI
-
38 %
share of Spanish SMEs using AI occasionally
Spanish SMEs
« Y otro 38% lo hacen ocasionalmente, de acuerdo con un informe de OpenAI »
Source: OpenAI
-
67 %
regular use of AI in companies with 50 to 250 employees
Spanish SMEs with 50 to 250 employees
« dos tercios (67%) las compañías con plantillas de entre 50 y 250 empleados dicen utilizar la IA regularmente, frente al 54% de las empresas más pequeñas »
Source: OpenAI
-
54 %
regular use of AI in the smallest companies
smaller Spanish SMEs
« frente al 54% de las empresas más pequeñas »
Source: OpenAI
-
1.25 %
prompts with a high risk of data leakage
prompts submitted to generative AI platforms
« 1 de cada 80 prompts introducidos en los chats de las distintas plataformas de IA generativa conlleva un riesgo elevado de filtración »
Source: Check Point Software Technologies - AI Security Report
-
7.5 %
prompts containing sensitive information
prompts submitted to generative AI platforms
« alrededor del 7,5% de ellos incluyen información sensible »
Source: Check Point Software Technologies - AI Security Report
-
39 %
organisations with no formal AI usage policy
Spanish SMEs
« el 39% de las organizaciones todavía carece de una política formal sobre su uso »
Source: OpenAI
-
71 %
employees using AI tools without company approval
employees, United Kingdom
« 7 de cada 10 empleados (71%) reconocen que utilizan herramientas de IA de forma independiente, incluso sin la aprobación de su empresa »
Source: National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) britannique
-
49 %
companies with fewer than 10 employees with no formal AI usage policy
Spanish SMEs with 0 to 9 employees
« casi la mitad (49%) de las compañías de hasta 9 empleados carecen de una política de uso formal, frente al 25% de las empresas de entre 50 y 250 empleados »
Source: OpenAI
-
25 %
companies with 50 to 250 employees with no formal AI usage policy
Spanish SMEs with 50 to 250 employees
« frente al 25% de las empresas de entre 50 y 250 empleados »
Source: OpenAI
-
79 %
SMEs considering that AI improves their efficiency at work
Spanish SMEs
« el 79% de las pymes consideran que la IA les permite ser más eficaces en su trabajo »
Source: OpenAI
-
3 hours per week
working time saved per employee thanks to AI
Spanish SMEs
« OpenAI calcula que esta tecnología les permite ahorrar tres horas de trabajo a la semana por cada trabajador »
Source: OpenAI
-
32 %
office workers in Spain saving 6 hours a week thanks to AI
office workers, Spain
« Cegid señala que casi un tercio (32%) de los empleados de oficina en España se ahorran 6 horas a la semana »
Source: Cegid - El momento de la verdad de la IA en la empresa
-
41 %
use of AI for idea generation
Spanish SMEs
« la generación de ideas (41%) »
Source: OpenAI
-
33 %
use of AI for research and analysis
Spanish SMEs
« la investigación y el análisis (33%) »
Source: OpenAI
-
32 %
use of AI for writing business communications
Spanish SMEs
« la redacción de correos electrónicos u otras comunicaciones profesionales (32%) »
Source: OpenAI
Classification
- Country
- Spain
- Company size
- SMEs, Micro-businesses
- Industries
- All industries, or industry not specified
- Companies
- National Cyber Security Centre (study author), Check Point Software Technologies (study author), Cegid (study author), OpenAI (study author), Panda Security (cited)
- Keywords
- shadow ai, usage policy, smes, productivity, cybersecurity, european regulation
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 Emprendedores and its author. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.