A group of young business people discussing their plans in an informal office.

The National AI Centre (NAIC)’s AI Adoption Tracker monitors how SMEs use and view AI. This month, we’re pleased to launch a new responsible AI dashboard to tracker.

The tracker contains data we gather via Fifth Quadrant, with 400 different businesses responding to survey questions each month. We’re looking to understand how SMEs are adopting AI, the opportunities and challenges they face, and the value it brings to their businesses. 

We’ve summarised some key findings for January to March 2025 below. You can explore more trends and data through the interactive dashboards in the AI Adoption Tracker. 

Please note we’ve rounded some statistics to make them easier to read. 

Business outcomes

This infographic is a stacked bar chart showing stats for 10 business outcome statements. Respondents in the survey answered definitely, possibly or unlikely to each statement. Read the details in the text version below.

Faster access to accurate data to inform decision making: definitely 23%, possibly 48%, unlikely 28%

Enhanced engagement and response to marketing activities: definitely 20%, possibly 48%, unlikely 32%

Enhanced resource optimisation and productivity: definitely 18%, possibly 48%, unlikely 35%

Improved customer experience/engagement: definitely 17%, possibly 48%, unlikely 35%

Stronger security, data protection and fraud detection: definitely 16%, possibly 57%, unlikely 27%

Improved quality control: definitely 15%, possibly 48%, unlikely 38%

Improved employee experience/engagement: definitely 15%, possibly 42%, unlikely 42%

More agile product and service innovation: definitely 14%, possibly 47%, unlikely 39%

More effective supply chain and supplier management: definitely 14%, possibly 46%, unlikely 39%

Increased revenue/profit/cashflow: definitely 13%, possibly 51%, unlikely 36%.

More businesses are reaping the benefits of using AI compared to last quarter. 

The top 3 business outcomes they definitely agreed AI could help achieve are:

  • faster access to accurate data to inform decision making (23%)
  • enhanced engagement and response to marketing activities (20%)
  • enhanced resource optimisation and productivity (18%).

However, challenges like the rapid pace of technological change, skills gaps and funding constraints remain significant barriers to adoption.

AI adoption by business size

This infographic shows adoption stats and a bar graph for businesses of different sizes. Read the information in the text below.

Larger organisations continue to lead AI adoption, highlighting an ongoing opportunity to enhance AI literacy and uptake among micro and small enterprises. 

Compare the adoption rates in different sizes businesses this quarter:

  • 200-500 employees (82%)
  • 20-199 employees (68%)
  • 5-19 employees (40%)
  • 0-4 employees (33%).

AI adoption by industry

This infographic is a stacked bar chart showing stats for 8 industry sectors. Data is grouped by adopting, not adopting and not aware for each sector. Read the details in the text version below.

Retail trade: adopting 46%, not adopting 37%, not aware 17%

Health and education: adopting 45%, not adopting 36%, not aware 19%

Services: adopting 43%, not adopting 43%, not aware 14%

Hospitality: adopting 42%, not adopting 41%, not aware 17%

Distribution: adopting 31%, not adopting 43%, not aware 26%

Construction: adopting 30%, not adopting 35%, not aware 35%

Manufacturing: adopting 28%, not adopting 38%, not aware 34%

Agriculture, forestry and fishing: adopting 19%, not adopting 46%, not aware 35%

Overall, the data indicates a positive trend in AI adoption. However, adoption varies significantly across industries. 

Retail trade and health and education maintain their position as the leading sectors for AI adoption this quarter, with services and hospitality close behind.

The primary industries - construction, manufacturing, and agriculture - continue to show higher levels of unawareness around the value of adopting AI solutions.

AI applications

This infographic shows the top 5 AI applications businesses are adopting with stats and icons to represent the types of applications. Read the information in the text below.

The top 5 AI applications that businesses adopted were similar to last quarter, with data entry and document process moving to equal #1: 

  • data entry and document processing (27%)
  • generative AI assistants (27%)
  • fraud detection (26%)
  • predictive analytics (21%)
  • marketing automation (20%).

Retail trade and services are using these applications at higher rates than other sectors.

Responsible AI practices

This infographic is a bar chart showing stats for 10 responsible AI practices. Respondents in the survey who are adopting AI answered which practices they have in place when using AI systems. Read the details in the text version below.

Check AI results before they affect customers/clients: 43%

Regularly review AI system outputs to check for accuracy: 38%

Commit to following best practice guidelines for safe and responsible AI use: 36%

Have guidelines on what tasks AI can and cannot be used for: 32%

Protect customer/client data used in our AI systems: 23%

Provide staff training on how to use AI systems appropriately: 22%

Train our staff/teams to use AI systems effectively and understand how to check the results: 22%

Have a process for customers/clients to raise concerns about AI-related decisions: 19%

Regularly test our AI systems to ensure they work as intended: 18%

Be clear with customers/clients about how our business uses AI: 14%

None of these: 17%.

Businesses can build trust, efficiency and competitive advantage with responsible AI. So to help us better understand how they are adopting responsible AI, we’ve added a question to our survey. 

We asked businesses which responsible AI practices they have in place when using AI systems.

Of the 10 practices, the top 3 for those already using AI during this quarter were:

  • check AI results before they effect customers
  • regularly review AI system outputs to check for accuracy
  • commit to following best practice guidelines for safe and responsible AI use.

The new dashboard data reveals a clear gap between the responsible AI practices that SMEs intend to implement and those they have actually deployed. The gap suggests that while SMEs are committed to responsible AI in principle, many face practical barriers in translating intentions into operational practices. For example, because of limited capacity and competing priorities.

Explore more data

AI Adoption Tracker

This data publication tracks how small and medium businesses (SMEs) in Australia perceive and adopt artificial intelligence. Updated monthly.
Read more

More information

Fifth Quadrant also produce an annual Responsible AI Index showing how Australian businesses are adopting AI
Learn more about the National Artificial Intelligence Centre's work