--- title: "Spanish SMEs are adopting AI widely, but neglecting usage policies — Marsanne Studio AI watch" description: "97% of Spanish SMEs use AI according to OpenAI, but 39% have no formal usage policy." url: "https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch/spanish-smes-are-adopting-ai-widely-but-neglecting-usage-926d9d/" 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 · 11 October 2026 # 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 →](https://emprendedores.es/inteligencia-artificial/pymes-ia-politicas-uso/) ## 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.